Dr Thomas R Kerr completed his PhD on Early Christian Settlement in North West Ulster in 2005. He consequently worked for a couple of years with the Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, and then as a Graduate Teaching Fellow, at Queen's University Belfast. Thom joined the Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP) in 2008 as a Research Fellow, and continued with EMAP until 2013. In 2014, Thom joined, what is now, the Historic Environment Division (HED) of the Department for Communities (NI) as an Inspector of Historic Monuments. In 2019 he was accepted as a Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CiFA).

Thom has been involved in framing future archaeological research in Northern Ireland as part of Archaeology 2030 - A Strategic Approach for Northern Ireland; and has continued publications focused on early medieval Ireland. His current research interests include early medieval warfare and the early medieval Irish economy.