Thomas was educated at
Mexborough Grammar School,
York St John University, the
University of Cambridge, and the
University of Hull. He completed a PhD at Hull on the applications of social science to computing. He lectured in
Human–computer interaction at
Brunel University between 1990 and 1992 and was appointed Professor of Information Management at the
University of the West of England in 1993. Thomas later became the inaugural director of the Centre for Future Skills and Workforce Transformation at
RMIT University in Melbourne. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Springer Nature journal
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing and founding director of the online learning platform HaileyburyX. He is head of higher education for the Conversation Design Institute; co-founder of the School for Conversation Design; creative director of
Medicine Unboxed; founder and CEO of the cybersecurity education platform Upling; and president of the CDI Foundation. ==Selected Publications==