Alan is an urban and housing studies scholar. He has been the recipient of several Australian Research Council (ARC) grants. At present he is the lead Chief Investigator (CI) on an  ARC Linkage project (2026-2029) titled Social housing tenants navigating relocation. He is also the lead CI on an ARC Discovery project (2023-2026) titled, Eviction: How private renters lose their homes and the consequences. He is a CI on an ARC linkage project (2021-2026)  titled Social isolation and volunteering of older Chinese immigrants in Australia. Previously he was the lead chief investigator on an ARC Linkage grant (2019-2023) examining the circumstances of people on the social housing waiting list and the impacts of waiting. He was also the lead CI on an ARC Discovery Grant (2019-2021) titled, A hidden crisis? The experience and impacts of precarious housing among international students in the private rental sector. Previously he was a CI on an ARC Linkage Grant (2017-2019) titled Local government and housing in the 21st century. In 2014-2016, he was lead CI on an ARC Discovery grant titled Stuck here forever? The dynamics and social consequences of long-term private renting in Australia.

His most recent book, is titled Debunking the Myth of Equality in Contemporary Australia (2026 August). The book examines inequality in a several areas - income, wealth, housing, education health, incarceration and gender in contemporary Australia. In 2021 his book The Private rental Sector in Australia: Living with Uncertainty  with Hal Pawson and Kath Hulse was published by Springer. The book examines the history of the private rental sector and its impacts on tenants. In 2018, Gentrification and Displacement: The Forced Relocation of Public Housing Tenants in Inner Sydney was published. It examines the displacement of public housing tenants in Millers Point, one of oldest public housing areas in Australia. His book, The Australian Dream: Housing Experiences of Older Australians (2016, CSIRO Publishing) examines the impact of housing tenure on older Australians who are dependent on the age pension. In 2015, A Practical Introduction to In-depth Interviewing, was published by SAGE.

He has published extensively in highly rated peer reviewed journals in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa.

Alan endeavours to make his research accessible His 27 articles in The Conversation have had 967,000 downloads (June 2026).  

He has extensive teaching experience. He has held academic positions in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand (1989 to 1999) and the School of Social Science and Policy at the University of New South Wales (2001 to 2013) where he coordinated and taught several undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

He has a PhD in Sociology from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. His PhD was a mixed methods study of inner-city transition in Johannesburg during the final years of apartheid. The book based on the PhD, Bleakness and Light: Inner-City Transition in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, is one of the key South African texts in urban studies. In 2000 it was one of two books to receive an 'honourable mention' by the Noma Award Jury, the premier award for publishing in Africa. The jury commented that the book was: 'A scrupulous and fascinating micro-study of social behaviour and attitudes ... It stands among the best of empirical work conducted in the social sciences in Africa'.

Professional

The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)

The International Sociological Association (ISA)

Board member of the Research Committee of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 43 (Housing and the Built Environment)

Editorial Board of the Economic Labour Relations Review