David graduated from the University of Leeds in 2004 with a BSc in Zoology. During this time he volunteered with Operation Wallacea in Indonesia and completed his third year dissertation project, a comparative study into cleaner/client interactions between two species of Labroides wrasse. Having also volunteered at the Bimini Biological Field Station (Sharklab) in The Bahamas, he then completed an MRes degree in Marine Biology in 2007 at the MBA. His research project investigated the effects of sexual interactions and temperature on social structure of female catshark (S. canicula) aggregations.

David was awarded a prestigious FSBI PhD Studentship in 2009 to work on the structure and function of social networks in a marine predator, which he will carry out at the MBA and the University of Exeter.