Philippa joined the University of Adelaide as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Learning) in April 2015. She previously was Deputy Chief Executive, and Director of Academic Practice, of the UK's body for the enhancement of learning and teaching in higher education, the Higher Education Academy (HEA). At the HEA she led national enhancement strategy and services, including commissioned educational research, across all academic disciplines and in a range of thematic areas such as employability, internationalisation, student retention and success, flexible learning, online learning and 'students as partners'. She also led the HEA's work on a range of national strategic projects in areas including grade point average, teaching excellence, learning gain and college-based higher education.
Phil joined the HEA in 2012, seconded from the University of Sheffield where she continued part-time in her position as Professor of Learning and Teaching Enhancement in Higher Education, based in the Information School (iSchool). Between 2010 and 2012 she served as Head of School and, between 2005 and 2010, as Director of a national Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning also based at the University of Sheffield. The Centre ran a substantial £4.85M enhancement programme focusing on inquiry-based learning and undergraduate research across the disciplines.
Phil joined the University of Sheffield as a beginning academic in 1989, and was promoted to Professor in 2009. At the iSchool, she taught in areas including: educational informatics; information and digital literacies; educational/learning issues in information/library systems and professions; aspects of information and knowledge management including leadership and management of information services; professional learning in knowledge-intensive environments. In 2002 she received a University of Sheffield Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching, in the first round of the scheme. Her professional activities include numerous invited presentations, a number of personal consultancies and, in 2009, time spent in New Zealand as a Visiting Fellow sponsored by HERDSA (Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia). She is a member of the editorial board of the journal Teaching in Higher Education. She served as Deputy Convenor of the Education panel for the Hong Kong Research Assessment Exercise, 2014.
