Sam graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2010 with a 1st class MChem Chemistry degree. In his third year he spent some time working in the group on living anionic polymerisation techniques, before continuing to complete his final year project on thiol-ene click reactions with Dr Dave Adams. Sam has also had experience in industry. In the summer of 2009 and 2010 he worked for Manchester Organics Ltd (based in Cheshire), buying and selling chemicals from overseas markets. Sam has now joined the Rannard group to study for his PhD on linear polymer/dendrimer hybrids.

Sam defended his thesis in 2014 and moved to the south of the UK to train as a patent attorney.