About the Communications Director
Alison Barrat is the Director of Communications for the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation’s Global Reef Expedition. She oversees press, film and Internet coverage of the Foundation’s activities, and develops one-hour films and television series for US and international broadcast.
Born in Fraserburgh, Scotland, Alison completed her Bachelor of Science honors degree in Zoology at Glasgow University in 1994, and a Masters degree in Film and Documentary Production at Sheffield Hallam University, England in 1998.
Alison began her career in natural history film production with an internship at the BBC, and continued as part of the award-winning documentary production company, Survival Anglia. For five years as a freelance producer, Alison created films for clients including the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and National Geographic Television.
Alison taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Idaho’s school of Journalism and Mass Media, and worked as the Festival Coordinator for Montana’s International Wildlife Film Festival. She has served on the Board of Directors of Wild Talk Africa, Africa’s largest wildlife film festival, and currently advises the University of Colorado, Denver on its creation of a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film program.
In 2005, Alison joined National Geographic Television’s Natural History Unit as the Director of Development. In three years, she created and sold more than fifty hours of natural history programming for domestic and international broadcasters including the National Geographic Channel, PBS, Japan’s NHK, and France’s Canal +.
In 2008, Alison returned to film production to develop and produce two National Geographic Mission-directed television series for the National Geographic Channel and the Public Broadcasting Service. In 2011, Alison created Discovery Communications very first iPad app, which explores the natural history of sharks.
