From Student Activist to Global Academic

More than 50 years ago, a 23-year-old Phil Harris arrived in York to begin his academic journey, bringing with him a determination to make a difference. Leaving a job at Rank Hovis McDougall in Birkenhead, where he had already demonstrated his leadership by setting up and chairing the company’s first trade union branch, he accepted an unconditional offer to study Politics and Economic History at York. This was a man who, after leaving a Catholic Secondary Modern School in Hayes, Middlesex, at 16, found his first job at Radio Luxembourg (208), “The station of the Stars,” in Mayfair, London, at the heart of the pop and commercial music and broadcasting industry. He moved North at 17 and gained his O and A levels at night school at Birkenhead Technical College. His journey to York marked the beginning of a remarkable career dedicated to education, public affairs and social change.

A Champion for Civil Liberties

Phil's time at York from 1975 to 1979 was transformative. His ambition to create change found its focus when he was elected President of the University of York Students’ Union (YUSU) from 1977 to 1978, having been Internal Vice President the previous year. During his tenure, like many, he rallied students and staff to support displaced individuals from across the globe, including exiled students from Chile, Iran, Southern Africa, and Zimbabwe. York became a haven for these students, allowing them to flourish, be safe and reach their full potential.

Under his leadership, YUSU also campaigned for fundamental human rights closer to home. They supported the establishment of the York Battered Women’s Refuge and actively fought against racism, championing civil liberties for all. 

Beyond his official duties, Phil was instrumental in founding the York Society, the University's first voluntary alum organisation, and served as its chairman after University. He also found time to indulge his love for rugby on the field, but a broken leg in the first year led him to focus more on campaigning and the students' union.

A Life of Leadership and Academia

Following his graduation, Phil's career took him into the industry with chemical giants ICI and then European Vinyl Corporation, based in Manchester, Runcorn, and Brussels. He also became deeply involved in UK politics, serving as Vice Chairman of the Liberal Party and playing a key role in its modernisation. His political ambitions led him to stand as a candidate for the UK Parliament in 1992 and for a European parliamentary seat in 1994.

However, it was in academia that Phil truly found his calling. He began his teaching and research career at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he rose to become a Reader in the Business School and developed a major centre for entrepreneurship development. He was also part of a team of entrepreneurial academics that, with support from the British Council and the EU, established post-communist business and management Schools in Prague and Minsk, among others.

In 2005, he moved to New Zealand, the spiritual home of his beloved rugby, and subsequently became a Professor of Marketing and then the head of the Department of Marketing at the University of Otago, where he developed a passion for supporting people with disabilities. He returned to the UK in 2009 and took up the Duke of Westminster Chair in Marketing and Public Affairs, becoming Dean of the Faculty of Business, Enterprise, and Lifelong Learning at the University of Chester. He was pivotal in its significant expansion over the next decade and helped found its Business Research Institute and China Centre. Phil has taught and researched extensively in China and India since the 1990s, holding several visiting positions there and in Africa, which reflects his commitment to internationalism. 

Throughout his career, Phil has been a prolific author and editor, publishing over 18 books and more than 200 scholarly articles. He co-founded and edited the Journal of Public Affairs for over 20 years and established the Centre for Corporate and Public Affairs Research, not only in Manchester but also in Chester. His dedication to nurturing the next generation of academics has seen him mentor numerous PhD candidates in Chester, Manchester, and Otago and examine internationally.

A Lasting Legacy

Phil has several passions, railways being one that is in his blood, as his ancestors moved to London from the West Country with the coming of the Great Western Railway to Bristol. He loves steam engines and started train spotting at the age of seven. It taught him numbers, geography, science, and an awareness of maps and timetables, enabling him to understand how people, policies, and decisions were made and evolved. This was essential to understanding the complexities of modern international business and policy-making, as well as its influence. Phil's extensive work has earned him global recognition. He has researched, taught, and consulted in over 20 countries, with a focus on entrepreneurship, public affairs, and negotiations. 

In recognition of his lifelong commitment, Phil was awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the Educate North Awards in 2024. In June 2024, he was named a Cavaliere of the Republic of San Marino and awarded the Order of St. Agatha for his service to international education and charity.

Phil's journey, from a working-class boy in Southall who left school at 16, the first in his family to go to university, to a Freeman of the City of London and a celebrated academic, is a testament to the power of education and relentless determination. His legacy at York—a campus where he championed civil liberties, supported the displaced, and fostered a spirit of community - continues to inspire current and future generations of students. He is living proof that a University of York education can truly change the world.

Phil is leaving York a legacy to enable students to study, particularly in the areas of Economic and Social History, the Economics of Health, and Politics, and to support, especially those with limited sight, in their learning. His mother was born with retinitis pigmentosa, and lost her eyesight, but always had a motto that Phil has since lived by:

“Never let anything hold you back, and always remember there are people who are worse off than you that need your support.”

This year, he has been chairing the UK Centenary of the Medical Mission Sisters (MMS), who specialise globally in caring for some of the most vulnerable people in the world. MMS were founded on September 30th 1925, in Washington, D.C., by a young Austrian doctor named Anna Dengel. Working in what was then North India in the early 1920s, Anna witnessed first-hand the complications and deaths of countless Muslim women and babies during childbirth due to customs which prohibited them from receiving certain aspects of medical care from men. These days, they focus on caring for the vulnerable and most needy who need healing around the world.

Phil has just taken on several new roles and chairs the Awards Committee of the Worshipful Company of Marketors of the City of London and has become a member of its Honorary Court. He has just set up a think Tank called “Think North” and published two edited books, Machiavelli, Marketing & Management: Revisited and The Sage Handbook of Political Marketing.