Phil was elected to the BARA Council in 2003. He is currently RAEng Professor of Aero-Structure Design and Assembly at Cranfield University; Head of the Centre for Structures, Assembly and Intelligent Automation and leads the Aero-structure Assembly and Systems Installation Group. Collectively, these support innovative research work on the interaction of humans, robots and automation in an industrial environment.
Prior to this, Phil founded and subsequently led the Robotics Research Group (RRG) at the University of Nottingham in 1997. He developed RRG into an internationally renowned group with a reputation for aerospace work, collaborating with, among others, Airbus UK, Bombardier Aerospace and Rolls-Royce.