Robert Stainton was introduced to Philosophy and Linguistics at York University's Glendon College. Graduating from there in 1988, he pursued doctoral studies in both areas at MIT, where he worked under Sylvain Bromberger, Noam Chomsky and James Higginbotham. In 1993, fresh out of graduate school, he took up his first academic position at Ottawa's Carleton University, where he eventually became Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Science. He has been at The University of Western Ontario since 2004, where he is presently Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy. In 2012 he was elected to the Royal Society of Canada..