Dr Rob Nicholls is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Sydney (part time) and a Professional Fellow at UTS Sydney Law. His research interests focus on regulation of networked industries and the financial services sector. He has a special interest in regulatory interactions associated with competition and consumer law and policy with an emphasis on the effects of technology in that space. Rob has had a thirty-year career concentrating on competition, regulation and governance. His first degree was in electronics and communications engineering from the University of Birmingham and he was awarded his PhD and MA by UNSW Sydney. Before moving to academia, he worked for Webb Henderson, the ACCC and spent twelve years as a client-facing consultant at Gilbert + Tobin, including as a partner. Nicholls was a member of the Australian Energy Regulator's Consumer Challenge Panel. Rob is an accredited mediator and from 2012 to 2020 he was Australia’s Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator. In addition, he is a member of the NBN arbitration pool.