[2] After graduating from St. John's College, Cambridge, he went on to Yale, conducting research in the Linguistics and Engineering & Applied Science departments.
[3] His academic career has included work in Asian languages, linguistics and computing, with side interests in philosophy, and political and economic thought.
[2] Sampson is widely known for academic papers criticising the linguistic nativist movement, including the arguments of proponents such as Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor and Steven Pinker.
Sampson is politically active and was elected to Wealden District Council in 2001, serving until 2002 with the local Conservative Party branch.
He resigned this position after he was criticised by Labour Party and Liberal Democrat ministers and councillors for publishing on his website an article, There's Nothing Wrong With Racism (Except the Name), containing a number of racist claims.