Professor Robert Martin (Bob) Blackburn graduated in Maths and Philosophy at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and received a PhD in Social Science at Liverpool University. At Liverpool he taught Sociology, Research Methods and Social Philosophy before moving to Cambridge as Head of Sociological Research in the Department of Applied Economics, subsequently joining the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (now HSPS), teaching Issues of Social Inequality.
In 1972 he was Nuffield Foundation Social Science Fellow at the University of Lausanne, and in 1984-5 an invited Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Bob served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Alberta. He taught a graduate course on the work of his research group at Getulio Vargas University, Sao Paolo. He was a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and served on the Academy Council from 2005 to 2011. Bob also served on the Executive Committee of the British Sociological Association, as a Consultant for the UN, the EC, and the ILO, and also for the Australian National University, Dalhousie University and the University of East Anglia. He was an Honorary Professor of Stirling University.
Professor Blackburn joined the Fellowship in 1966. Many alumni will remember him fondly not just as a supervisor: he was also a supportive tutor. In retirement, he was very much a regular at lunch in College and was held in high regard and affection by staff and Fellows alike.