Robert studied Natural Sciences (Zoology) and did his PhD in insect evolutionary-developmental biology at the University of Cambridge (UK). As a postdoctoral research associate at the Max-Planck Society for Developmental Biology (Tübingen, Germany) and Institute of Neuroscience (University of Oregon, Eugene, USA), he switched to the zebrafish system and the study of neural crest and pigment cell development. He started his own laboratory at the University of Bath in 1976, where he remained ever since, becoming a Professor in 2012.
