Francis E. Hutchinson is a Senior Fellow and Co-ordinator of the Regional Economic Studies and Malaysia Studies Programmes at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. He holds a PhD in Public Policy and Administration from the Australian National University and degrees from the Universities of Cambridge and Sussex. 

Francis’ research interests include governance, state-business relations, federalism, decentralization, and industrialization in Southeast Asia. He has written or edited five books including Asia and the Middle Income Trap (Routledge 2016); is the Managing Editor of the Journal of Southeast Asian Economies; and has published on Southeast Asian economic and political issues in Asian Affairs, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Asian Journal of Political Science, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, and Southeast Asian Affairs.

Prior to joining the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Francis carried out applied research for agencies such as the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, AusAID, as well as political risk consultancy firms such as Oxford Analytica.