Dr Lara Allen

Dr Lara Allen is CEO of the Centre for Global Equality, a UK-based civil society organisation that evolves innovative solutions to global challenges. She also leads the Inclusive Innovation Programme at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Cambridge.

As head of the Centre for Global Equality she has led the evolution of the organisation’s approach to Inclusive Innovation – innovation for, with and by the rising billions. This approach is premised on facilitating co-creation between researchers, innovators and end-users in low-resource communities, along with productive collaborations between key actors in academia, civil society, government and business to ensure that innovations are context-appropriate and are diffused and scaled effectively.

Lara has twelve years of experience as an international development practitioner working as an employee, consultant and volunteer with grassroots Community Based Organisations and national and international NGOs in South Africa, Kenya, Ireland and the UK. Prior to this she was an academic with nine years of post-PhD experience at the University of Cambridge and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.