Thomas Sikor has conducted research on forest tenure and politics over the past two decades, including fieldwork in Vietnam, Albania, and Romania. He holds a PhD in Energy and Resources from the University of California at Berkeley and currently is Reader in International Development at the University of East Anglia. Sikor has guest-edited a number of special journal issues and books on topics ranging from community and land reform to property theory. In his activist work, he promotes the expansion of economic, political and cultural rights to disadvantaged people in Vietnam.

Johannes Stahl works on natural resource governance and institutions in agriculture and forestry. He holds PhD and MA degrees in Agriculture and Social Anthropology and was a Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow in Natural Resource Economics and Political Economy at the University of California at Berkeley from 2007 to 2009. Stahl's research has examined forest use practices and institutions in Bolivia and Albania. He lives and works in Montreal, Canada.