Bryant Allen earned a BA degree from Massey University in 1965 and a Master’s degree with 1^st class honours in 1969. In 1970 he was a Tutor at Flinders University School of Social Sciences, Adelaide and in 1971 he became a  PhD Scholarship in Department of Human Geography, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University.

From 1996 Bryant worked in close collaboration with Mike Bourke, Robin Hide, and the late Geoff Humphreys to plan, implement, and complete the agriculture systems project in Papua New Guinea. In 1997 he was co-leader of national surveys of food and water shortages in Papua New Guinea. He has consulted for AusAID and the World Bank (PNG poverty survey). When he retired in December 2009 he had been the Head of the Department of Human Geography a number of times and in 2009 was the Convenor of the Division of Society and Environment in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. After retirement, from 2009 to the end of 2012 he worked on the PNG LNG Project in resettlement and as a lands and community affairs manager.