Dr David Corlett has worked with refugees and asylum seekers for about two decades as a case worker, researcher and advisor. He currently works as a researcher with the International Detention Coalition.

He has been an advisor on projects regarding asylum seekers for the Asylum Seeker Project of Hotham Mission and long term immigration detention for the Victorian Foundation for the Survivors of Torture.

In 2003, he completed a doctoral thesis on Australia's response to asylum seekers. He has authored two books, Following Them Home: The Fate of the Returned Asylum Seekers which was highly commended by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and Stormy Weather: The challenge of climate change and displacement.

His writing has also appeared in the UNSW Law Journal, The Monthly, The Age and the Canberra Times.