Alison Irvine is the Program Manager of the Biodesign Challenge, a university competition that pairs artists, designers, and scientists together to envision the future of biotechnology. Biodesign Challenge is a program of Genspace, a nonprofit community laboratory dedicated to promoting citizen science and access to biotech. She graduated from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts with a degree in Theater and Interdisciplinary Science and studied political theater at The Freie Universität in Berlin, Germany. She received the Hunt Fellowship for her work as a theater artist creating performances that centered on the emergence of new biotechnologies and their implications in the context of social and economic inequities. She researches creative practices that engage the public with basic science and new technologies in ways that promote social reflection and ethical scientific conduct. Alison has also written articles on the intersection of art, science, and social justice for Imagine Science Films and The Center for Genetics and Society.