His PhD work engaged his interest in the role amphiphilicity plays in driving the interaction of bioactive molecules with cell membranes. He was awarded a long-term fellowship by the European Molecular Biology Organisation which enabled him to investigate the importance of amphiphilicity in protein translocation at Utrecht University Centre for Biomembranes and Lipid Enzymology. He continued to work on amphiphilic helices, being one of the first to help characterise their role as membrane protein anchors. He later expanded this work to investigate the importance of structure-function relationships in the design of antimicrobial peptides.
In 2000 he launched a new Department of Forensic and Investigative Science at the University of Central Lancashire and in 2002 he became Dean of Science and Technology when he launched a new School of Pharmacy.  During this time he also remained the UK representative on the European Committee of Biological Associations (ECBA) and for a while was a Commissioner for Biotechnology. He remains an international advisor on higher education and science to the University of Guyana.
In 2008 he became Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for strategic planning and performance across the University of Central Lancashire group. In 2010 he created UCLan Biomedical Technology Ltd, a research institute based in Shenzhen, China, which focuses on areas of nanoscience and nanoengineering. As the inaugural Chair he oversaw the development of research collaborations with key Chinese universities such as Fudan University and Sichuan University.  In 2012 he became Chair of UCLan Cyprus Ltd and provided the academic lead on the de novo creation of a private university in Larnaca, obtaining a licence to operate from the Ministry of Education with approval to initially run courses in business, languages, law, computing and mathematics.
In 2013 he was selected to replace Martin Earwicker upon his retirement as Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of London South Bank University. In 2014 he became Chair of [http://www.millionplus.ac.uk/ MillionPlus], The Association for Modern Universities