Edward became involved in things Indonesian when he spent a year in Malang, East Java, as a teenager in 1983 (his father was working on an Australian government aid project). Later he studied Indonesian at high school and university. He wrote his PhD on the democratic movement which overthrew the Suharto regime (this was published as a book - Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance and Regime Change in Indonesia - in 2005). Now he researches Indonesian politics at the Australian National University, currently with a focus on the conflict and the peace process in Aceh.