Phil served in the UK fire and rescue service as a firefighter and officer for 31 years. After joining the London Fire Brigade from the Dorset Fire Brigade in 1990 he progressed to become a Group Manager and served as a Borough Commander for 10 years.  At the core of his career was a passion for incident command and throughout it he was involved with the introduction and delivery of some innovate incident command training methods. 

In 2015, the year of his retirement, he gained a BSc Psychology degree from Birkbeck College, London University and in 2016 an MSc in Social Science Research Methods (Distinction) from Cardiff University.  He is currently a research student in his final year of a PhD at the School of Psychology, Cardiff University.

Phil’s award-winning human factors research has focussed on the decision making of fire and rescue service incident commanders and the development of a behavioural marker system (THINCS) to measure the performance of non-technical command skills by them.  These skills include decision making and leadership and are essential for the assertive, effective and safe performance of incident command.

Phil has also completed a seven-month internship with the National Fire Chiefs Council and on two occasions he has worked as a project board member on behalf of the UK fire and rescue service’s National Operational Guidance Programme conducting national reviews of incident command guidance.

Phil is married and splits his time between the family home in London and Cardiff University.