In the ALMA era of observational astronomy, we are availed of a plethora of spatially resolved images of protoplanetary discs, the site of exoplanet formation. Significant substructure, such as spirals and ring-like gaps, has proved to be the norm, rather than the exception, in these systems. There is now a consensus that much of this substructure is caused by forming gas-giant exoplanets. However, this is problematic for our understanding of planet formation. These protoplanetary discs are typically a factor of 10 too young to have formed such massive planets in the standard core accretion paradigm, but it is also understood that planets do not form directly through gravitational collapse. When protoplanetary discs are very young, they are very massive relative to their host star, and therefore pass through a period of gravitational instability. This instability may accelerate the earliest stages of planet formation in the standard core accretion paradigm, offering a solution to the planet formation timescale problem. I discuss my research into gravitational instability and detection of substructure, and discuss future research plans which will explore the formation of exoplanets in dynamically evolving protoplanetary discs.