John has instigated and completed numerous research projects, drawing on his experience of working with such iconic Australian brands and multinationals as BHP, Rio-Tinto, Energex, and the National Rugby League. He was the Faculty’s Associate Dean (Research) from 2008 - 2012.

An experienced presenter with a straightforward style, John has lectured on a broad range of subject areas including regional economics, labour economics, business finance, business policy, human resource management, management, and quantitative economics.

John’s extensive academic, consultancy, editorial and ‘expert opinion’ experience sees his economic modelling acumen regularly called upon for impact analyses and applied micro-economics relating to professional sports, wages and employment, and workplace health and safety.

John’s industry engagement includes being a principal of Synergies Economic Consulting, a director of the Economics & Law Research Institute (ELRI), a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Manpower, and contributor to the Ministerial Commission for Training and Education. He’s also a member of the Economic Society of Australia (Qld branch), Australasian Regional Science Association International, Royal Economic Society and Labour Economics Group (UK). He consults and writes for Sports Analysis, which specialises in deep-data analysis, trend identification and sponsorship leveraging for the sports industry.

Previously, John was the director of the Centre of Economic Policy Modelling, director of the Labour Market Research Unit within the Department of Employment and Training, and an external consultant to the Queensland Jobs Council. He has been an Eminent Research Visitor to the Department of Education and Training, a Visiting Fellow at Queensland Treasury, and a Visiting Research Professor at the Universities of Lancaster (England), Ulster (Northern Ireland) and Kiel (Germany). He has also held editorial roles with the Australasian Journal of Regional Studies and Focus on Economics series, Oxford University Press.

John’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Economics, a Diploma of Education and a Master of Economic Studies from The University of Queensland; and a Master of Arts from the University of Lancaster (UK), where he also completed his and PhD in Economics.

Areas of research