Thomas is co-director for the Postgraduate Certificate of Ecological Survey Techniques at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education and college lecturer in biological sciences at St. Anne's College, University of Oxford.

His main research interests lie within the field of behavioural ecology of insect and spiders (although he also has broder ecological interests) with a specific focus on web-building behaviour in orb spiders. He has worked in a range of different ecosystems including tropical and temperate woodland, but he has recently become fascinated by habitat islands in general and subterranean ecosystems in particular