Rob received his undergraduate degree (astrophysics) and PhD (chemical physics) from the University of Birmingham in the last century. Subsequently he spent time in Amsterdam and Oxford as a research fellow before being awarded an EPSRC advanced research fellowship. In 2010, he left the university to become the science director of a small spin-out company, a position that he held for 6 years. Since his return he has been mainly satiating his interest in plasma chemistry, but during his time at Oxford has been closely involved in many projects with topics ranging from breath analysis to chirality.