Robin Cohen is Emeritus Professor of Development Studies at the University of Oxford. For the first decade of his academic career, he worked on comparative labour issues. His books included Labour and Politics in Nigeria (1974) and the co-edited collections The development of an African working class (1975), International Labour and the Third World (1987), African Labor History (1978) and the current title, Peasants and Proletarians. He subsequently wrote on the themes of migration, globalization and diasporas. His best-known work is Global diasporas: An introduction (3rd edition, 2022).

After acting as Overall Co-ordinator of PLANACT (1988-1992), William Cobbett moved to ANC HQ in 1992, and represented the ANC on the Transitional Executive Council (TEC). Following the 1994 elections of the Government of National Unity, William was appointed Director General of Housing under Minister Joe Slovo. He subsequently acted as Director of Housing in Cape Town (1997-98) before moving to Nairobi to join the United Nations. He was subsequently based in Washington DC (2001-2013) and Brussels (2013-2021) in the Cities Alliance secretariat, becoming Director in 2005 until his retirement in 2021. He has served both as a member of ROAPE's EWG and as a Contributing Editor.