Educated at Annadale Grammar School and Queen's University, Belfast. His primary degree is in Pure Chemistry (2.1 Hons). Wrote his postgraduate thesis on 'Nitrogen metabolism of hormone-stimulated, folate-deficient, chick oviduct' before working for the N. Ireland Department of Agriculture, as an agricultural chemist. In retirement (2007) he has taken up work full-time on the systematics and biogeography of not just Coleoptera but non-marine Mollusca, Isopoda, Chilopoda, Diplopoda and Ascomycotina (Fungi). He works part-time as a consultant on environmental matters with the N. Ireland Environment Agency, National Parks and Wildlife Agency, Republic of Ireland and numerous ngos and commercial firms.
Since retiring he has become FRES (2008) and has co-authored the RES Handbook (12: Parts 7, 8) on Staphylinidae Oxyporinae to Staphylininae (2011) with Derek Lott, and Slugs of Britain & Ireland. Identification, Understanding and Control (2014), with Ben Rowson and others.
He has also published widely on British and Irish Carabidae including: 'Hidden species within the genus Ocys Stephens: the widespread species O. harpaloides (Audinet-Serville) and O. tachysoides (Antoine) (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Bembidiini)' with D.R.Maddison. Dt. Ent. Ztschr, 2016, 63(2), 287–301,; 'Temporal and spatial variation in carabid assemblages from the United Kingdom Environmental Change Network' with W.A.Scott. Biological Conservation, 2003, 110, 197-210; 'Proteinus crenulatus Pandellé (Staphylinidae) new to Ireland with a comment on separation from other Proteinus'. Col., 2014, 23(3): 149; 'Bisnius subuliformis (Gravenhorst) and Quedius nigrocaeruleus Fauvel (Staphylinidae) new to Ireland, from bird boxes', with Bryan, M.D. Col., 2013, 22(3): 116; and The beetles of decaying wood in Ireland. A provisional annotated checklist of saproxylic Coleoptera. with K.N.A. Alexander, Irish Wildlife Manuals, No. 65. 2012,, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin, Ireland). To date he has added 87 species of Coleoptera to the Irish list and published 265 articles and papers on a variety of subjects, 147 of these on Coleoptera.
Anderson's own collection includes about 7,000 specimens of Irish Coleoptera in all groups, and about 500 specimens from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Israel, Kenya and Alaska. It includes types of Poophylax villosa Anderson & Fuller (2005) from the Falkland Isles. Specimens collected by him may also be found in the collections of the Ulster Museum and the NHM.
Present address is 1 Belvoirview Park, Belfast BT8 7BL, N. Ireland. (RA 8/17)
There are 22 pages of correspondence with Colin Johnson in MUNHM (Box 14) dated 1986-1997. (MD 1/22)