Bernt did his undergraduate studies at the University of Auckland and a PhD at the Australian National University. He did his first synchrotron experiment in 2002, and has been actively involved in a range of synchrotron research and technique development since. He has been a beamline scientist since 2007, first overseas (Photon Factory, Japan), and then at the Australian Synchrotron XAS beamline (since 2009).

Areas of scientific interests include energy storage and catalysis.