Phillips travelled in the developing world and worked for the BBC before taking up a faculty position in the Physics department of Imperial College London in 1985, at the age of 27.
Most recently he is applying the techniques and devices developed over his research career to make ultra-efficient solar cells, and "Quantum Metamaterials" .
He is known for using practical demonstrations in his lectures to illustrate critical points; for example illuminating the nature of quantum operators through their likeness to sausage machines.
He believes that the fruits of scientific research should be made accessible to all, and he regularly gives media interviews and public demonstration lectures at schools and science fairs at home and abroad.
Phillips grew up in Cullercoats, a coastal town of population 10,000, in the North East of England, but his family moved south for work at an early age.