Email: [email protected]
Room: NW922

Phone: 0121 204 3297

Phil is Professor in Sociology. Previosuly he has served as Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor Researcher Development and Dean of Graduate School, Associate Dean Research in the College of Business and Social Sciences, Associate Dean Research in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, and Head of Department of Sociology and Policy after joining Aston 2014 from the University of Warwick where he was Deputy Head of Department Sociology. Phil is currently Co-Chair of the REF 2029 PCE Pilot Sub-Panel for Social Work and Social Policy (UoA 21) and previously served as  a member of the Sociology sub-panel for REF2021.

Phil’s research focuses on children and young people with a particular interest in child work and youth labour, the informal sector, political protest and qualitative research methodology. He is currently writing a research monograph Street Life as Labour under contract to the University of Bristol Press. He has published three books, over 40 peer review journal and book chapters and his been PI and Co-I on a range of funed research projects that include a British Academy funded project on children’s working lives in an urban informal settlement in Ghana; a European Union funded project examining young people’s political activism; and a large programme of research funded by ESRC exploring young people's precarious pathways from education into the labour market. 

Phil is currently a member of the editorial board for the international journal Adolescents. He previously served two terms as member of the editorial board of Work, Employment and Society, including for for two years its Deputy Chair. Phil is also currently a member of the Research Experts Forum of the Consortium of Street Children, a global alliance of NGOs supporting the rights and welfare of street children. 

Phil has taught at all levels from first year undergraduate modules through to advanced-level post-graduate research training. He has supervised 15 doctoral students through to completion and is currently supervising students researching the Prevent strategy, young people’s use of illegal drugs and the professional development of academic researchers. Phil has also examined PhD research degrees at the universities of Aston, Warwick, Essex, Sheffield, Portsmouth, Sydney, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and the Open University.