Robert joined Nottingham University Business School in 2012. Prior to this he worked at the School of Management at the University of Leicester. He holds a BSc (Hons) Management from Lancaster University, an MA Critical Theory awarded by the University of Nottingham, an MSc Management Research from the University of Leicester and was awarded his PhD by the University of Leicester.

In 2008, he was awarded an ESRC Scholarship for his doctoral research project investigating the nature of cultural production in the music industries. His thesis, supervised by Professor Martin Parker and Dr Nick Ellis, was examined by Professor Alan Bryman and Professor Carl Rhodes.