In 1972, he received a scholarship from the Leopold Schepp Foundation to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, from where he graduated summa cum laude in ancient history.

At the same time, under the Chairmanship of Alan Bullock, he was appointed Director of Oxford University MARE,[3] the first academic maritime archaeological unit in England.

In October 2022, Bound's account of the two expeditions to the Weddell Sea which led to the rediscovery of Shackleton's Endurance was published under the title The Ship Beneath the Ice by Pan Macmillan.

[31] A five-star review of the book by Simon Griffith of The Mail on Sunday[32] said the "narrative cracks along with the pace of a well-crafted thriller" while Robert Crampton in The Times called it "gratifyingly long on logistical detail, correspondingly short on flights of fancy".

[33] In 2024, Simon & Schuster published Wonders in the Deep, a history of the world told through shipwrecks and the artefacts found on them, co-authored by Bound and travel writer Mark Frary.

Has edited a book series, held Visiting Fellowships (University of North Wales), conducted coursework and been a doctoral examiner.

His awards include 'Diver of the Year, Italy' 1985, and in 1992 he received the Colin McLeod medallion from the British Sub Aqua Club for 'Furthering international co-operation in diving'.

The BBC has made several documentaries on Bound's work including Queen Elizabeth's Lost Guns, about the recovery, replication and test-firing of an Elizabethan iron cannon from the Alderney wreck.