Tabularx and Longtable Alignment

Is that what you want ?

If you want to change title , open article.cls, copy paste and change maketitle as you want :

makeatletter
    def@maketitle{%
  newpage
  null
  vskip 2em%
  begin{center}%
  let footnote thanks
    {huge @title par}% <=LARGE by default
    vskip 1.5em%
    {large
      lineskip .5em%
      begin{tabular}[t]{c}%
        @author
      end{tabular}par}%
    vskip 1em%
    {large @date}%
  end{center}%
  par
  vskip 1.5em}
makeatother

Edit :

documentclass[10pt]{article}
usepackage{etoolbox}
AtBeginEnvironment{tabularx}{medskip}%before
AtEndEnvironment{tabularx}{medskip}%after
usepackage[margin=20mm]{geometry}
title{ JOE BLOGGS}
author{[email protected]}
date{}

usepackage{baskervillef} %font
usepackage[T1]{fontenc} %font
usepackage{nopageno} %eliminates page numbers
usepackage[nobottomtitles,explicit]{titlesec} %adjust titles
usepackage{array,tabularx,longtable} %multi-page tables
usepackage[table]{xcolor}
definecolor{lightgray}{gray}{0.8}
newcolumntype{L}{>{raggedleft}p{0.14textwidth}}
newcolumntype{R}{p{0.8textwidth}}
newcommandVRule{color{lightgray}vrule width 0.5pt}%no need | do the same job perfectly

%titleformat{section}{normalfont}{textbf{}}{0em}{textbf{#1}}

titleformat{section}{normalfont}{thesection}{1em}{MakeUppercase{#1}}[ titlerule]

setlength{parindent}{0pt}
setlength{extrarowheight}{5pt}
arrayrulecolor{gray}
usepackage{lipsum}


    
    
begin{document}

maketitle

 Areas of Particular Interest: dogs, aardvarks, amazing birds of paradise.



 Areas of Interest: cats, honey badgers, goldfish.

section*{Education}
begin{tabularx}{textwidth}{L|@{quad}R}
    2018--2020 & MPhil in Zoology, University A.
%   & Attained distinctions in every module in first year.
    &  MPhil Thesis: textit{999 Reasons Why Dogs Are Better than Cats}
    & Supervisors: Scooby & Snoopy
    & Examiners: Fido (Internal) & Laika (External) 
    2014--2017 & BA in Zoology (First), University B.
    %& hspace{5mm} Upper Second Class.
    %2011--2013 & textbf{A Levels, King Edward VI School (Southampton)}
    %& Mathematics (A*), Chemistry (A*), Biology (A*), & Economics (A*).
end{tabularx}

section*{Works in Progress}
begin{tabularx}{textwidth}{L|@{quad}R}
    2020 & textit{Aardvarks and Their Discontents.} Revise & resubmit in the textit{Journal of Zoology}. 
    2020 & textit{Should We Care for Wild Animals?} Revise & resubmit in textit{Zoological Studies}.
end{tabularx}

section*{Presentations}

begin{tabularx}{textwidth}{L|@{quad}R}
    February 2021 & textit{Should Animals Be Sent into Space?} Paper to be presented at the 24textsuperscript{th} Oxford Zoology Graduate Conference, University of Oxford, UK.
    July 2020 & textit{Why Do Cats Hate Water?} Paper presented at the 13textsuperscript{th} Annual Cambridge Graduate Conference on Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK.
end{tabularx}

%vspace{baselineskip} %no need etooolbox do this for you

begin{tabularx}{textwidth}{L|@{quad}R}
    February 2020 & textit{Are Cats Really Smarter than Dogs? A Summary of Recent Research}. Paper presented at the Friday Seminar, University A, UK.
    December 2019 & textit{How Many Times Did Laika Orbit the Earth? Ethical Issues Surrounding Space Exploration} Paper presented at the Zoology Group, University A, UK.
end{tabularx}

section*{Awards}

begin{tabularx}{textwidth}{L|@{quad}R}
    2020 & Generic academic award for being amazing, contributing to the department, and many other things. University A, UK.
    2020 & Another generic academic award for being amazing, contributing to the department, and many other things. University A, UK.
    2020 & Another generic award for being amazing, contributing to the department, and many other things. University A, UK.
    2020 & Another generic award for being amazing, contributing to the department, and many other things. University A, UK.
    2020 & Another generic award for being amazing, contributing to the department, and many other things. University A, UK.
end{tabularx} 

section*{Teaching Experience}

begin{longtable}{L|@{quad}R}
   2020 & lipsum[1]
    2020 & lipsum[1]
    2020 & Taught Undergraduates Zoology. University A, UK.
    2020 & Taught Undergraduates Zoology. University A, UK.
    2020 & Taught Undergraduates Zoology. University A, UK.
end{longtable}


end{document}