Cantor studied at
Manchester Grammar School and
Christ's College, Cambridge. He has worked at universities including
Sussex,
Oxford,
York, Washington State and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), and for companies including
Alcan,
Elsevier,
General Electric and
Rolls-Royce. He has advised organisations such as EPSRC, NASA, the EU and the Dutch, Spanish and German governments. He chaired international review panels for the Institute of Metal Research (IMR), Shenyang, China, the Department of Materials Engineering at the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc), Bangalore, and the Institute of Innovative Materials, Wollongong University, Australia. He was a member of the Sainsbury review of UK science and innovation. He has chaired and been on the board of many companies and agencies, including the
Kobe Institute, the UK Universities Pensions Forum, the
White Rose University Consortium, Yorkshire Innovation, Leeds, York and Bradford Economic Partnerships, the Chambers of Commerce, the
National Science Learning Centre, the Centre for Low Carbon Futures, Science City York, the
Worldwide Universities Network, the UK College of Business and Computing, The Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and the Science Museum Group. He founded the
Begbroke Science Park at Oxford, the National Science Learning Centre, the Hull-York Medical School, and the World Technology Universities Network (WTUN), and led the £1bn Heslington East campus development at York. Cantor was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to higher education. ==Research==