Steven is a mature student, having returned to the University of Glasgow to study Environmental Chemistry in 2009-12, working on the effect of trace metals and phosphate release from construction of the Whitelees Windfarm, in peat bogs, as part of a joint study with the University of Edinburgh's Impact Study. He also completed an internship with the SUERC facilities, working to carbon-date and measure metals content in a restored peatland.  . 

He completed a Masters in Environmental Engineering at the University of Strathclyde in 2017-18, working on trace metal release from soils subjected to Smouldering Remediation, 

His current work is turning this previous work on release from organic compounds on it's head, and using farming byproducts as a naturally occurring organic sorbents, with an aim to capture and concentrate trace minerals in seawater, including uranium, to investigate as a potential alternative to geological mining.