Phil Harris (academic)

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Phil Harris (born 2 March 1952) is a British marketing scholar and political scientist. He is Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Public Affairs at the University of Chester and Woxsen University, Hyderabad, and Professor extraordinarius at the University of South Africa (UNISA). [1] He is known for his research on public affairs, lobbying, political marketing, entrepreneurship and business-to-government relations. He is the joint founding editor of the Journal of Public Affairs and has authored or edited over 20 books and more than 200 academic articles. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Harris was born in Southall, Middlesex, London, in 1952. He left school at 16 and his first job was working for Radio Luxembourg (208) in Mayfair, London, at the UK headquarters and recording studios of the original UK pop music station. [3]

Harris studied politics and economic history at the University of York (BA, 1979), where he served as President of the Students' Union (1978–79). He also served as Financial Vice Chairman of the Union of Liberal Students and stood for Deputy President of the National Union of Students (NUS). He subsequently gained a Certificate of Education from the University of Manchester (1989) and a PhD in marketing and public affairs from Manchester Metropolitan University (2000). His doctoral thesis examined lobbying and political marketing in the United Kingdom. [4]

Career

Harris began his academic career in 1987 when he joined the Faculty of Business and Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he taught Business Development and European Industrial Marketing. He co-founded the Centre for Corporate and Public Affairs in 1996 and later became Reader in Marketing and Public Affairs. [5]

He was appointed Professor of Marketing at the University of Otago, New Zealand, where he gave his inaugural professorial lecture, "Machiavelli, Marketing & Management: Ends and Means in Public Affairs" (2006). He later became Head of the Department of Marketing (2005–07). [6]

In 2009, Harris returned to the UK and joined the University of Chester as the Westminster (Grosvenor) Professor of Marketing and Public Affairs. He served as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business, Enterprise, and Lifelong Learning (2009–2014), executive director of the Business Research Institute (2014–2020), and Director of the China Centre. [7] He became professor emeritus in 2020. [8]

He also holds international appointments including professor emeritus at Woxsen University, Hyderabad (from 2022), and Professor Extraordinarius at UNISA (from 2021). Since 2024, he has served as Director of Global Research, Innovation and Development at Nigerian British University, Asa, Abia. [9]

Research

Harris edited the Handbook of Public Affairs (2005) and authored the Penguin Dictionary of Marketing (2009) after five years of research. Later works include the International Handbook of Corporate and Public Affairs (2017) and Lobbying in Europe (2017). He was general editor-in-chief of the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying, and Public Affairs (2022). [10] His publications have addressed European lobbying, corporate social responsibility, political marketing, and electoral behaviour in the UK, New Zealand, and other international contexts. [11]

Harris has also examined the modern relevance of Machiavelli, contributing to the organisation of the Machiavelli at 500 Symposium in Manchester (1998). His later work includes the edited volume Machiavelli, Marketing & Management: Revisited (2025) and The Sage Handbook of Political Marketing (2025). [12]

In 2000, Harris co-founded the Journal of Public Affairs, which he edited until 2021. He has also served as senior editor of the Journal of Political Marketing and sat on editorial boards of journals such as the European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, and Marketing Theory. [2]

Professional leadership

Harris has held senior positions including Chairman of the Academy of Marketing (1999–2002), Chairman of the Marketing Council (UK) PLC (2005–08), trustee of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (2001–08), and board member of the American Marketing Association Global Interest Group. [2]

He founded the Chester Forum in 2010, chaired the High Sheriff of Cheshire Enterprise Awards, and co-founded the Educate North Awards in 2015. [13]

Awards and honours

Harris is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and the Academy of Marketing Science.

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ "Phil Harris appointed Professor Emeritus at Woxen University, Hyderabad, India". West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce. 2 March 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 "Professor Phil Harris | University of Chester". chester.ac.uk.
  3. ↑ "Radio Luxembourg". BBC. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
  4. ↑ "Webinar-Machiavelli, ends, means and modern leadership". Consulate of San Marino to the UK.
  5. 1 2 "Professor Phil Harris Conferred Knighthood by the Republic of San Marino". West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce. 27 November 2024.
  6. ↑ "A Delegation from the University of Chester Visited Our School-Dezhou University". eng.dzu.edu.cn.
  7. ↑ Ehlen, Sallie (3 August 2017). "Chester and China business leaders meet to discuss economy challenges". Cheshire Live.
  8. ↑ Harris, Phil; Bitonti, Alberto; Fleisher, Craig S.; Binderkrantz, Anne Skorkjær, eds. (2022). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs. Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-44556-0. ISBN   978-3-030-44555-3.
  9. ↑ Sgueo, Gianluca (September 2018). "Lobbying in Europe. Public Affairs and the Lobbying Industry in 28 EU Countries A Bitonti andP Harris (eds) Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 400 pp. £109.99; Hardcover". European Journal of Risk Regulation. 9 (3): 600–601. doi:10.1017/err.2018.42.
  10. ↑ "Congratulations Phil Harris | Worshipful Company of Marketor". marketors.org.
  11. ↑ Sgueo, Gianluca (September 2018). "Lobbying in Europe: Public affairs and the lobbying industry in 28 EU countries". European Journal of Risk Regulation. 9 (3). Cambridge University Press: 600–601. doi:10.1017/err.2018.42 . Retrieved 30 September 2025.
  12. ↑ "Professor Phil Harris". DigitalNZ. 1 August 2005.
  13. ↑ "Professor Phil Harris appointed Professor Extraordinarius at the University of South Africa". West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce. 16 August 2021.
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