Philippa has worked at a senior level in education and change management both in the private and public sectors.

 

Most recently she was the Head of the SOAS Careers Service, and during this time she raised the profile of the work the team does which directly impacts League Table position. SOAS was one of the early adopters of Careers Registration, where incoming students are asked for their career thinking stage at registration. Between 2015 and 2023 she helped to change the institutional narrative from using Graduate Destinations data  (a heavily lagged indicator) to plan for student success to using Careers Registration data:  a leading indicator with a proven link to outcomes. Careers Registration is now used by a majority of HEIs and Philippa is always happy to share learning and ideas from her own practice.

 

Philippa is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, achieved through the demonstration of the impact of Careers work on student learning, and for developing the pedagogical content of career development teaching.

 

Prior to Higher Education, Philippa retrained as a teacher and taught in the classroom for several years, specialising in primary education with Modern Languages.

 

Philippa’s earlier career was in retail management, where she developed Harrods’ first Customer Care scheme, and BT Global, where she worked on international facilitation and change management across the UK, Europe and the United States.

 

Outside work, Philippa’s focus is on sustainable gardening. She grows as much food as she can  and is part of a group seeking to revitalize her local horticultural association. She has shown her produce at a local show and is the proud custodian of the silver cup for the best vegetable exhibits. She is also attempting to develop good behaviour in her two rescue hounds and has ambitions to compete in dog agility or flyball with the younger one if she can get him to stand still and listen for long enough.