Having Graduated from Oxford, Trotman-Dickenson moved to
Ottawa to work at
National Research Council Canada from 1948 to 1950. He then completed an
ICI Fellowship at
Manchester, where he also earned his PhD in 1952. He worked as a
lecturer in chemistry at the
University of Edinburgh, where he received a DSc in 1957 for a portfolio of works titled,
The kinetics of elementary reactions. He was made
Professor and chair of Chemistry at
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth by the age of 34. He was appointed
Principal of the
University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST) in 1968 and continued as Principal of its successor,
University of Wales College of Cardiff, from 1988 to 1993. He additionally served as the Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Wales for three terms: 1975 to 1977, 1983 to 1985, and 1991 to 1993. ==Honours==