After obtaining his degree and PhD from St John's College, Oxford University, he held his first academic position at University College London (UCL). Since then, he has held many senior academic positions including the Director of the Royal Institution, Chair of Chemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences also at UCL. He has won many awards and accolades, being awarded the Solid State Chemistry, Interdisciplinary, Liversidge and Faraday awards of The Royal Society of Chemistry. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society, Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and of the Leopoldina – the German National Science Academy. His long-standing and wide-ranging contribution to the discipline was recognised in 2020 when he was Knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.