Van Ikin is an academic and science fiction writer and editor. He is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Western Australia, and has acted as supervisor for several Australian writers completing their post-graduate degrees and doctorates - including science fiction and fantasy writers Terry Dowling, Stephen Dedman, and Dave Luckett - and received the University's Excellence in Teaching Award for Postgraduate Research Supervision in 2000.
Ikin is probably best known for his editorship of the long-running critical journal Science Fiction - A Review of Speculative Fiction. He has reviewed science fiction and fantasy for The Sydney Morning Herald since 1984.