[2][3][4] Harry Anderson studied chemistry at Christ Church, University of Oxford, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1987.

[12][13] Based on the work of organic synthesis, his research interests have found wide range of collaborators from versatile academic backgrounds all over the world.

It was found that elongated/encapsulated pi-conjugate systems constructed by porphyrins showed unprecedented physical properties in charge transfer,[14][15] two-photon absorption,[16] etc., thereby providing physicists and photobiologists new candidates and inspirations in their research.

He has introduced new concepts for molecular design, and ground-breaking approaches to template-directed synthesis, leading to materials with unprecedented electronic and nonlinear optical characteristics.

He has pioneered the investigation of conjugated porphyrin oligomers, encapsulated pi-systems, nanorings and two-photon absorbing dyes, and he has worked closely with physicists and photobiologists to understand the relationship between molecular structure and function.