Timothy Allen was born in 1942 in South Croydon, Surrey, U.K, and since the 1970s has been a permanent U.S. resident. He received his B.Sc. in 1964 and his Ph.D. in 1968, both at the University CollegeNorth Wales of the University of Wales, Bangor, in North Wales. Starting in 1964, Allen worked for four years as a demonstrator at the School of Plant Biology of the University College North Wales. This was followed by two years as a lecturer in the Department of Biological Science at the University of Ife in Nigeria. In 1970 he went to the United States and became an Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany of University of Wisconsin–Madison, being named Professor in 1981. In 1980 he joined the faculty of the Department of Integrated Liberal Studies, and as Member of the faculty of the Institute for Environmental Studies, Conservation and Land Management Programs. In 1988-89 he was a Visiting Professor at the Department of Anthropology and Cybernetic Systems at the San Jose State University. Allen has been 2008/09 President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences. He is also a member on the scientific advisory board of the Integral Science Institute.
Allen has written about five books and has published over fifty scholarly works in journals on community data analysis, agricultural systems, issues of scale, and sustainability. Books:
1996. Hierarchy theory : a vision, vocabulary, and epistemology. With Valerie Ahl, illustrated by Paula Lerner. New York : Columbia University Press.
2003. Supply-side sustainability. With Joseph A. Tainter and Thomas W. Hoekstra. New York : Columbia University Press.
Articles, a selection:
1991. "The role of heterogeneity in scaling of ecological systems under analysis". With T.W. Hoekstra. In: J. Kolasa, and S.T.A. Pickett. Ecological heterogeneity. Springer-Verlag. pp. 47–68.
1993. "The problem of scaling in ecology". With A. King et al. In: Evolutionary Trends in Plants 7:3-8.
1991. "Improving predictability in networks: system specification through networks." With R.V. O'Neill. In: M. Higashi and T.P. Burns. Theoretical studies of ecosystems: the network perspective.Cambridge. pp. 101–114.
