Robert is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director for LSHTM's Environmental Health Group that focuses its research on the links between water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and health.

He is particularly interested in understanding the determinants of WASH and WASH-related behaviors and developing and evaluating WASH and WASH behavior change interventions in households, communities, and institutions.

Robert is also a principal researcher for WASH studies, including an impact evaluation of school-based WASH and WASH behavior change interventions in Bangladesh and the Philippines; urban school WASH programs in Ethiopia and India; and studies on the determinants and impact of child exposure to enteric pathogens in a domestic environment.

Robert serves as Director of the COVID-19 Hygiene Hub, a free service housed at LSHTM to support actors to rapidly design, share, adapt, and evaluate hygiene interventions to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).