After reading English at Southampton University as a mature student, Phil went to the University of Leeds and undertook research for a PhD on ‘Genre, History and National Identity in Icelandic Saga Narrative’.

He has worked as a lecturer in English at the universities of Southampton, Winchester and Leicester and was, for a time, an Assistant Director in the Reviews Group of QAA. More recently he was Assistant Vice Chancellor at the University of Winchester, before taking up his current post.

Phil continues to be actively involved with the QAA, as well as with the Oman Academic Accreditation Agency and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Australia). He maintains an active external examiner profile for the universities of Gloucester and Brighton as well as undertaking advisory duties more generally (chiefly on quality matters), across the sector.