His research focuses on improving the observational capabilities and perceptional awareness of underwater robotic systems through the development of novel in situ optical sensors and intelligent data processing methods. He is dedicated to fielding systems in real environments and overcoming bottlenecks in the flow of information from data-collection through to generating human insight. Blair holds an EPSRC innovation fellowship and is PI of NERC BioCam for the development of scalable seafloor imaging technology. He has participated in more than 45 ocean research expeditions (27 of which as principal investigator) and has spent over 380 days at sea.