Dr Riley joined the Department of Materials at Imperial College London in October 2006. He moved to Imperial from the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol where, for almost a decade, he had run a successful research group investigating the formation and assembly of nanoparticles on electrode surfaces, a bottom-up approach to nanoparticle modified electrodes. Prior to his appointment as a lecturer at Bristol he worked as a PDRA in the group of Professor Laurie Peter at the University of Bath. Here he undertook investigations of the formation and characterisation of porous silicon, a nanoparticle modified electrode prepared by a top-down approach. Dr Riley was awarded a MA and DPhil from Oriel College, University of Oxford; his doctoral research activity was supervised by Professor Richard Compton.

Dr Riley's research activity concerns the preparation, characterisation and applications of nanomaterials. Colloid chemistry and templated deposition are employed to obtain materials of defined dimension. The as-prepared particles are characterised and then deposited on substrates to yield surface coatings with well defined architecture. The electrochemistry and photoelectrochemistry of electrodes modified using such techniques are investigated. Dr Riley's group consists presently of five Ph.D. students. The group's research activity is supported by both Research Councils and industrial awards, companies supporting the research activity include Procter & Gamble and Hewlett Packard.