Peter Curson is a graduate of Auckland University and the University of Tasmania. Currently he is Professor of Population and Security at Sydney University and Emeritus Professor of Population and Health in the Medical School at Macquarie University. An Historical Demographer with a background in Geography, Demography, History and Public Health he writes from an interdisciplinary perspective and is particularly skilled in reconstructing past populations and understanding how people react when confronted by disasters like epidemics, pandemics and wars.The author of seven books and more than 100 academic papers, he also writes extensively for the Australian and New Zealand media on population and health issues, and has been involved in the making of a number of TV programs.