John is a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Galway. His research interests focus onRural Geography, Agriculture, Small-Scale Farming and Family Farms. John graduated with a BA (Hons) and MA (Hons) from NUI and was awarded a University Scholarship to pursue his PhD at Bristol University in the UK. At Bristol, he studied under renowned Geographer Professor Paul Cloke and, on completion of his PhD, obtained a permanent lectureship post at the University of Northampton. During this time, he was appointed subject leader on Rural Development and delivered courses on rural geographies and land resource development. On taking up aLectureship post at NUI, Galway he was subsequentlyappointed Head of Department from 2009-2013 and again in 2019-2022. John has published a number ofbooksand a large number of articles in top international journals. He has authored numerous reports, given a number of invited papers, keynote addresses and other conference papers. He has acted asPI on a largenumberofInternationalprojectsincluding INTERREG -Northern Peripheries and Arctic Programme (Building Shared Knowledge Capital -BUSK);FP7 - (Developing Europes Rural Regions in an era of Globalization - DERREG); and most recently, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM) funded(CO-BIOECON Project-Towards a Co-designed Regional Strategy for the Bioeconomy). Johnis also part of the Galway research team onEC-HORIZON-CSA PREMIERE project; and a researcher on theH2020IMAJINEproject(WP8)and H2020 RURALIZATION Project. John has recently been commissioned by Edward Elgar (EE) Publishers in the UK, to produce the Encyclopedia of Land Use: Policy, Planning Management and Sustainability.

Johns research interests are rural based. They include rural geographies and sustainability, agriculture, small scale farming, themultifunctional countryside, succession and inheritance, land mobility and resource use. John has published a number of books, a large number of international peer reviewed journal articles and EC reports. He has delivered a number of invited papers, keynote addresses and other conference papers throughout Europe. John is involved in a number of European Research Projects including DAFM -CO-BIOECON project; INTERREG - ArMo and BuSK projects; H2020 - RURALIZATION; PREMIERE projects andFP7 -DERREG project. He was alsopart of the University of Galway research team on the H2020 IMAJINE project, as well as part of the Galway research team awarded the contract to run the National Rural Network in Ireland (DAFM funded).

Johns teaching very much relates to his research. The key focus of his teaching centres on the rural world and the activities therein. He has a particular interest in the role of agriculture, agricultural restructuringand the place of small scale farming. John isalso very interested in exploring the vision for rural areas and the discourses around future rural sustainability. John teaches a numberof courses at undergraduate and graduate level. These courses include: Rural Futures: Agriculture and the Multifunctional Countryside Rural Community and Field-based Learning Conceptualising the Rural - Policy, Strategy and Governance Conceptualising Environment, Society amp; Development Research Project Design amp; Development Rural Environments: Sustainability and Management Research Seminar in Agriculture and the Multifunctional Countryside Research Seminar in Rural Development amp; Sustainable Environments