Pádraig Carmody is Associate Professor and Head of Geography at Trinity College Dublin, from which he holds both a B.A. in Geography and History and M.Sc in Geography. He completed his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Minnesota in 1998, where he was a MacArthur Scholar. Subsequently he taught at the University of Vermont, Dublin City University and St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg. At TCD he directs the Masters in Development Practice. He has published a number of books, including The New Scramble for Africa (2016, 2nd edition) and Development Theory and Practice in a Changing World (2019).

He also worked as a policy and research analyst for the Combat Poverty Agency in 2002-3. His research centres on the political economy of globalization in Africa. He is Director of the Masters in Development Practice at Trinity. He has consulted for the Office of the President in South Africa on urban development and is currently an Associate Editor of the journal Transnational Corporations published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.