John McCarthy studied environmental science, social theory and anthropology in the universities of Melbourne and Monash before completing a PhD at the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University. He subsequently held fellowships at the Asia Research Centre and at the Van Vollenhoven Insitute (Leiden University). He has carried out various assignments with non-government organisations in Australia and Indonesia, AusAID, the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), WorldFish and the World Bank.

• (in press) The Paradox of Agrarian Change. Food Security and the Politics of Social Protection in Indonesia NUS Press.