Benson holds a PhD in Marine Data Science from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and Kiel University, where his doctoral work with Prof. Dr. Jens Greinert focused on automated deep-sea image analysis. That work produced first-author papers in Scientific Reports and Scientific Data on seafloor classification in the Clarion–Clipperton Zone, the FaunD-Fast model for megabenthic fauna detection, and sediment and megafauna distribution in the tropical Atlantic.

He returned to Kenya to establish SIEAL, where his research centres on the Blue Biodiversity Integrity Index — a dual-arm GeoAI pipeline pairing satellite-based carbon stock mapping with a below-water integrity index derived from stereo-video and computer vision, designed to produce compliance-grade outputs for carbon and biodiversity disclosure frameworks.