Robert G. Gilbert is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Chemicals, a professor at the Centre for Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Queensland, Australia, and a distinguished professor at the Yangzhou University Thousand Talents Program. Has long been engaged in starch and polysaccharide chemistry research. In 2012, he was selected as China's first batch of “Thousand Talents Program for Foreign Experts”, and he was appointed Distinguished Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Professor Gilbert has published more than 420 academic papers. He has been cited up to 12,500 times and has an H-index of 57. He is one of the most cited scientists in Australian papers. Professor Gilbert has served as Chairman of the Polymer Chemistry Committee of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), and currently serves on the editorial board of Biomacromolecule, Journal of Polymer Science, Carbohydrate Polymers and other internationally renowned magazines.

He has been awarded a number of honors and awards for his outstanding contributions to teaching and scientific research. In recent years, Professor Gilbert has carried out a series of studies on the structure, function, biosynthesis and utilization of cereal starch, and has rich research experience and theoretical basis for starch structure and function.