Rohan Bastin was born in Melbourne and completed his secondary schooling and first university degree in Adelaide. After completing his PhD at University College London, Rohan joined the Anthropology program at the University of Melbourne, later embarking on an ARC postdoctoral fellowship. He then joined James Cook University where he rose to the position of Head of School before being appointed to Deakin in 2005 with the task of rebuilding the Anthropology program. Since joining Deakin, Rohan has extended his long-term research in Sri Lanka with two ARC Discovery Project grants. The most recent of these grants is funding a team of researchers in Sri Lanka and Australia including 5 PhD students completing their theses in 2020.