Kevin Fissum received a degree in Physics with high honors in 1988 at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. A PhD in experimental nuclear physics at the Saskatchewan Accelerator Laboratory (now the Canadian Light Source) followed in 1993, with a thesis entitled "Inclusive Positive Pion Photoproduction". University research positions and postings which followed included Lund University (LU) based at MAX-lab (the Swedish National Electron Accelerator Facility, now the MAX IV Laboratory) from 1994 - 1996; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, based at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (USA) from 1996 - 1999; and again, Lund University, from 1999 - present. In parallel, he held the positions of Adjunct Researcher and Associate Research Professor at The George Washington University (USA) from 2006 - 2015. At LU, he earned the title of Docent in 2002, and became Senior Lecturer in 2012.

A very active experimental physicist, Fissum has led medium to large scale experimental photo-and electronuclear experimental efforts in North America and Europe. Complementary projects have included all aspects of the development, commissioning, and employment of charged-particle and gamma-ray detectors, with a focus on scintillation-based hodoscopes and gas-based tracking devices.  His interest in detector development has evolved to focus almost entirely on detectors employed for neutrons. He recently founded and led the Source-Based Neutron Irradiation Group (SONNIG) which operates the LU Source Testing Facility (STF), a detector-characterization platform shared by the Division of Nuclear Physics at LU (DNPLU) and the Detector Group of the European Spallation Source. Efforts at the STF are focused upon developing a mechanism to tag thermalized neutrons, researching new technologies for the detection of neutrons of all energies, and the education of the next generation of neutron scientists.

Very recently, SONNIG and the LIBAF Group of DNPLU have merged to form a Neutronics Group at LU. The ultimate goal of the Neutronics Group is to establish an experimental facility at Science Village Scandinavia in Brunnshög, Lund, constructed around a neutron generator and radioactive sources and offering local hot-commissioning possibilities for the short-term staging of contributions to ESS. In the long term, the facility is envisioned to evolve into a cornerstone of the Swedish Compact Accelerator-Based Neutron Source (CANS) initiative, which is anticipated to lead to increased scientific collaboration with ESS and its users as well as with other neutron-related research groups within Sweden.

Since 2022-10-01, Fissum has been on a leave of absence from Lund University, engaged instead as the Group Leader for Detectors within the Division of Neutron Scattering Systems under the Technical Directorate of the European Spallation Source.