Dr Watson has a MEng in Mechanical Engineering (University of Hull, 2005) and a PhD in Chemical Engineering (University of Leeds, 2010). From 2010 to 2014 he was a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds. His research there was performed in the Food Physics Research Group and was funded by Innovate UK, BBSRC and via numerous industrial collaborators. In 2013 Dr Watson became a chartered engineer and he is a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and an Associated Member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers. In 2013 he was also one of the founding directors of the start-up company Albion Crystallisation Ltd, who specialise in developing energy efficient food processing technology. In 2014 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham. In 2015 he became a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.