Allison Van is the Executive Director of Spark: a centre for social research innovation at McMaster University. She specializes in mixed-methods complex systems analysis, community/academic partnerships, and the translation of research into social change. Her career has traversed sectors and disciplines, including extensive work in agricultural and rural development, poverty, child welfare and juvenile justice, social entrepreneurship, and medical innovation.  Uniting these experiences was a common approach to applied research and experimentation, allowing Allison to transform radically different systems and organizations.  Previously, she was the Associate Director of Evaluation at the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute at University of North Carolina.  Prior to that she worked at Winrock International, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the National Rural Funders Collaborative.

Allison Van is currently building the Spark into an international model of innovation in social science research support.