Having graduated in biochemistry from the University of Sussex, U.K., Robin Bedford undertook a D.Phil. in organometallic catalysis with Penny Chaloner (also at Sussex). He then held a postdoctoral research associateship with Anthony Hill at Imperial College London and lectureships in inorganic chemistry at Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Exeter, where he was promoted to Reader in Catalysis. He moved to the University of Bristol in a similar role in 2005. He currently holds an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship and the Royal Society of Chemistry's Sir Edward Frankland Fellowship (Dalton Division) for 2006/7.