Luke Smyth is a research officer within the Centre for Native Title, Land and Water Research at AIATSIS. He obtained an undergraduate degree in development studies from the Australian National University, and is currently completing a Masters in Social Research, also at the ANU.

His university studies have included training in both traditional qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as network analysis. His previous research has focused on the interconnected demographic, social and environmental issues faced by indigenous peoples and marginalised groups in Australia and southeast and southwest Asia.