He worked for 11 years with the United Nations in Afghanistan and Cambodia (1990 to 2001). He has an MA from the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney in Documentary Production and a Bachelor of Natural Resource Management from the University of New England.

He has also undertaken assignments for the UN in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Laos as well as a World Bank range land project in Somalia.

Most recently (April 2006) he has travelled to Iraq as Official Cinematographer for the Australian War Memorial.

Robert is also currently directing a feature-length documentary for SBS, ARTE and ITVS on the move of a gold mining plant from Kalimantan, Indonesia, to Guinea, West Africa. For the past 18 months he has been working on a series of short films for the Belgium Technical Cooperation agency in Vietnam, and has produced a film on the impact of the closure of a gold mine in Kalimatan. He is also carrying out a series of consultancies with the USAID's Environmental Services Program in Sumatra, to produce longitudinal film studies which assist in the monitoring and evaluation of that project. In cooperation with Richard Geeves (VIAfilm Phnom Penh) he is working on films on sustainable livelihoods and community resource management issues in rural areas in Cambodia, for FAO and Non Government Organizations.

In Australia he has produced documentaries on social issues, such as the stolen generation and the children of prisoners. The film he produced at the AFTRS won best student film at the International Student Documentary Awards in Chicago in 2003 and was screened on the ABC ("The Road Home"). Robert helped establish the Cambodian NGO Srer Khmer, which assists farmer training.

In Australia he has worked with the Central Land Council (1987-1990) in Alice Springs, as an Environmental Officer, and all over inland Australia as a locust control field officer with the Commonwealth Government (1983-87). He also holds a private pilots licence. He is currently based from Canberra, Australia.