Tom studied for his MChem (Chemistry) at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The final year of his course was spent on industrial placement with Lubrizol Ltd in Manchester. He was a member of the Hyperdispersant research team, developing polymer-type additives for plastics and unsaturated polyester resins. After graduating in 2008 he continued working for Lubrizol as a graduate research chemist before moving to Bath and joining the CDT in September 2009.