Dr. Gibson obtained a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Toronto (1989) and an M.Sc. (1991) and Ph.D.(1996) in Earth Sciences from the University of Waterloo. From 1996 to 2000, he conducted postdoctoral research at the National Hydrology Research Centre, Saskatoon, at the Wetlands Research Centre, Waterloo, and in association with the University of Alberta, Edmonton. In 2000, Dr. Gibson obtained a professional appointment at United Nations Headquarters in Vienna, Austria where he served as Associate Officer with IAEA's Isotope Hydrology Section. In 2002 he moved to Victoria BC to work as a Research Scientist for Environment Canada's National Water Research Institute. In 2007 he joined Alberta Research Council (now Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures) as a Senior Hydrologist and Professor based in Victoria BC. Today, he also serves as Lead of AITFs Integrated Water Management Team with 9 staff based in Victoria, Calgary, and Waterloo. He is a Limited-Term Professor of Geography, University of Victoria since 2002, with his main role being supervision of graduate students.

Over the past 25 years, Dr. Gibson has participated in a wide variety of field-based hydrology and geochemistry projects.  He served as President of the International Tracer Commission of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, and is founder and Past Chair of the Committee on Isotopic Tracers of the Canadian Geophysical Union. He regularly serves as reviewer for a variety of international journals including Applied Geochemistry, Science of the Total Environment, Chemical Geology, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal of Great Lakes Research, Global Biogeochemical Cycles,  Limnology and Oceanography, Journal of Hydrology, Hydrological Processes, Nordic Hydrology/Hydrology Research, Water Resources Research, Journal of Hydrometeorology, Journal of Climate, Global and Planetary Change, Tellus, Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Naturwissenschaften,  and Biogeochemistry. Based at the University of Victoria, he currently supervises 2 M.Sc. students and maintains an active research portfolio in collaboration with Canadian and international researchers.