Packwood received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nottingham before going on to earn an MPhil from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1989.
In 2001, he succeeded Piers Brendon as Acting Keeper of the Archives, and in 2002, the college appointed him to the permanent role as Director.
In 2004, he helped to develop an exhibition with the U.S. Library of Congress entitled ‘Churchill and the Great Republic', which ran from February through July.
In 2012, in collaboration with the Morgan Library in New York, ‘Churchill: The Power of Words’, presented interactive exhibits that included documents on loan from the Centre.
[4] In the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours List, he was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his exemplary services to Archives and Scholarship.