John Ryan was appointed Associate Professor at the University of New England in Armidale in 1969. As a foundation member of the regional Heritage Future Research Centre, and the founding editor of the series New England Lives and has edited Australian Folklore. His research interests include etymology, literature and history. He has been involved in stimulating regional historiography and biography, and has written extensively on Australian literature, with increasing focus on writers with a New England connection. He compiled and edited The Land of Ulitarra : Early Records of the Aborigines of the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales (1964).
