Seamus Murphy is a social anthropologist. His main areas of interest include agrarian change through market development, the implementation of environmental and health policies, and the intersections of these issues with local governance in post-colonial Africa.

He received his PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where his research examined the impact of marketisation under fisheries development and conservation policies among lakeshore communities in Southern Malawi.

Seamus is currently researching livestock development policies in relation to zoonotic disease in Tanzania. This research is part of The Livestock, Livelihoods and Health project, which is being conducted by the STEPS Centre and the University of Glasgow, and is being funded under the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems programme by DFID, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Seamus is also currently conducting research with the University of Crete, under the EC funded WATBIO programme, where his work is examining the impact of biomass policies on farmers in the UK, Greece and Germany.