John Connell is Professor of Human Geography at Sydney University. He was previously at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University before being lured by the Australian National University with the promise of working in the Pacific islands. Eighteen months in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, at fascinating times, and three years working with the South Pacific Commission in New Caledonia ended any thoughts of returning to England. Since then he has worked in many Pacific islands and published a series of books and papers on various aspects of development, from the literature of the Samoan author Albert Wendt to the marketing of Fiji Water.

His books on the Pacific include Taim Bilong Mani (1978), New Caledonia or Kanaky: the Political History of a French Colony (1988), Migration and Development in the South Pacific (1990), Papua New Guinea: The Struggle for Development (1997), Urbanisation in the Island Pacific (with John Lea) (2002) and Environment, Development and Change in Rural Asia-Pacific (with Eric Waddell) (2006). He has also written other more general books on migration and development including Sovereignty and Survival. Island Microstates in the Third World (1988), The Last Colonies (with Robert Aldrich) (1998), Mining and Indigenous Peoples in Australasia (with R. Howitt) (1991), Small Worlds, Global Lives. Islands and Migration (with R. King) (1999).

Recent interests have led, after nearly a quarter of a century in the city, to a book on Sydney: the Evolution of a World City (1990) and two books with Chris Gibson: Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place (2003) and Music and Tourism. On the Road Again (2005). Most recently he has been working with the WHO on migratory health workers. When not writing books, marking exam papers and debating development he is a wildly erratic goalkeeper in the Sydney Eastern Suburbs Over 35s Football League.