Professor Altman's research interests include: Sustainable economic development and associated policy issues for Indigenous Australia; the hybrid economy framework; the economic engagement of Indigenous people with the Australian and global economies (especially in mining, tourism, arts industries and emerging industries); sustainable commercial utilisation of wildlife and fisheries; the Indigenous customary economy and its articulations with the market; land rights, native title and Indigenous land management; and theoretical issues in economic and development anthropology.

Professor Altman undertook fieldwork for his doctorate in the Maningrida region, central Arnhem Land in 1979-81 and has maintained vibrant and diverse research relations with this region for over twenty years. He has also undertaken field research in north Queensland, the Torres Strait, the Kimberleys and Central Australia.

Professor Altman has been involved in a number of ARC projects including on 'Hybrid Economic Futures for Remote Indigenous Australia' and as a Chief Investigator on an ARC Linkage project 'More than a Roof Overhead: Meeting the Need for a Sustainable Housing System in Remote Indigenous Communities' based at RMIT University. Other research he has undertaken focused on Indigenous interests in fresh water. A major project he led, largely sponsored by the Sidney Myer Trust, was the 'People On Country, Healthy Landscapes, and Indigenous Economic Futures' project that ran 2007 t0 2012.

Jon maintains some research and policy advisory roles with several Indigenous-led not-for-profit organisations. His main current focus is on as a foundation director since 2009 of the Karrkad Kanjdji Trust an environmental philanthropy that works with Indigneous ranger groups across much of Arnhem Land; and with Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (NT) Limited.

Jon Altman is a an emeritus professor of the Australian National University located at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) in the Colleage of Asia and the Pacific. From 2016-2019 he was also research professor in anthropology at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University, Melbourne where he remains in an honorary capacity. He has a disciplinary background in economics and anthropology. Professor Altman held a number of post-doctoral research appointments at ANU before being appointed the foundation director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) from April 1990-April 2010. In 2003, Professor Altman was elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and in 2012 an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Professor Altman was an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow (2008 to 2013) focusing his research efforts on the project 'Hybrid Economic Futures for Remote Indigenous Australia'.