Rob holds several degrees in Philosophy, including a PhD. Rob completed his graduate study at the University of Essex, focusing on modern European philosophy in the critical tradition, and writing his PhD thesis on the normative foundations of the critical social theories of Jurgen Habermas and Axel Honneth.
Since 2009 Rob has worked on many high-profile research projects in education and educational technology. These have EU funded projects like Mobile Technologies in Lifelong Learning (MOTILL); European Unified Framework for Accessible Lifelong Learning (EU4ALL); BizMOOC and ENCORE+ which involved working with a range of European partners. He has also worked on many projects funded by philanthropy with a focus on open education, such as the Hewlett funded Open Learning Network (OLnet); OER Research Hub; OER World Map; Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) and UK Open Textbooks projects.
Rob is a keynote speaker who has presented his work in many countries.
Rob has acted as a referee for numerous academic journals, including International Education Studies, British Journal of Educational Technology, Journal of Online Teaching and Learning, Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice and Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Interactive Media in Education.