Prof. John Rennie Short is the Professor of Public Policy in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), USA. He received an MA in Geography from the University of Aberdeen in 1973 and a PhD in 1977 from the University of Bristol. He has been the Professor of Public Policy at UMBC since 2005, having previously held positions at the University of Bristol, the University of Reading and Syracuse University. He currently writes for a number of audiences, including The Conversation.