John Mackenzie is a research fellow in the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge research program at Charles Darwin University. His research draws on political sociology and the use of social science research methods for policy design, analysis and assessment, with specific research interests in community-based natural resource management, water governance and water reform, and environmental advocacy.

John completed his PhD in the School of Political Science at the University of Queensland, and his post-doctoral research fellowship at the Griffith University Law School. He is currently working on methods for incorporating socio-cultural values in water allocation planning across the tropical river systems of north Australia. This follows on from three years of action-research with water planners across Australia exploring ways to improve collaboration in water allocation decision-making and planning. His current work on socio-cultural values involves the development of a facilitator's guide for developing Indigenous catchment action strategies in collaboration with the North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA).

Before joining the TRaCK research team at CDU, John was a lecturer in Environmental Politics at the University of Queensland, a consulting researcher with the Coastal Zone Cooperative Research Centre, a senior social scientist in the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, and a research fellow at the Socio-Legal Research Centre at Griffith University.  John has a number of external advisory roles, including as a member of the advisory panel on community engagement for the Murray Darling Basin Authority.