He received his undergraduate degree in marine biology in 1998 from Bangor University (1st Class hons), and his doctorate in 2001 from University College Cork (Ireland). Following his PhD, he held lectureship positions at Reading and Aberystwyth Universities (UK), and started at Victoria University in 2006. To date, Dr Bell has published over the 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and books, the majority of which are on sponge ecology. He has supervised over 50 honours, MSc and