Urbain received his undergraduate degree from the University of Cape Town in 2016, majoring in Biochemistry and Chemistry. He then went on to receive his Bachelor of Science with Honours degree with Distinction (2018), Master of Science degree (2021) and Doctor of Philosophy degree (2023) in chemistry at Rhodes University. During his PhD research, which was funded by the National Research Foundation, Urbain demonstrated the effective application of silica-supported sulfuric acid in three different one-pot reactions, providing a substantial library of compounds for potential pharmaceutical applications. Urbain is working as a postdoctoral researcher on the project, with a focus on developing energy efficient depolymerisation reactions for the chemical recycling of PET textiles.