Robin joined the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in 2004 to take up the position of Leader of the Integrated Land Use Systems Group. From November 2007, he became coordinator of the Climate Change Theme, in which he was responsible for developing specific areas of work to meet core-funded deliverables, winning external funding, and developing appropriate partnerships with key institutions nationally and internationally. During this time, he also led a number of externally-funded international projects on ecosystem services and tropical deforestation, organising and contributing to several side-events at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conferences of Parties (CoP).
Following the formation of the James Hutton Institute in April 2011, he took up the position of Leader of the Vibrant and Low Carbon Communities Theme, and in 2013, additionally of Coordinator of the Institute's ClimateXChange Centre of Expertise work. Following internal reorganisation in 2016, he became leader of the Scottish Government's Strategic Research Programme on Natural Assets, as well as continuing to coordinate Hutton ClimateXChange work. In this capacity, he has given evidence to various Scottish Government committees on a number of occasions in the area of climate change mitigation.
