Dr Phillip Towndrow is the Programme Director of the Teacher Professionalism and Learning Research Programme at the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice. He graduated with a Doctorate in Education from Durham University, U.K. and holds a Master's Degree in Linguistics (TESOL) from the University of Surrey, UK. He studied Philosophy as an undergraduate at the University of Essex where he specialised in 17th Century political theory.

Nowadays, Phillip's research and writing interests centre around qualitative approaches to language and communication in the digital age, and teachers' professionalism, growth and learning. He focuses mainly on conducting exploratory and analytical case studies of teachers' learning in community-based storytelling and reflective practice. Phillip's has won or managed over S$6 million in competitive research funding. Notably, he was the Principal Investigator that successfully closed the CORE2 research programme into Pedagogy and Assessment practices in Singapore schools (2009-13). He has led several studies as Principal Investigator (see Funded Projects).

Phillip has written over 100 research-based publications (see Publications). These include books, refereed journal articles, reports and conference papers. He has also served as a Managing Editor for the Asia Pacific Journal of Education and regularly reviews submissions to numerous international journals in the fields of teacher education, language learning, and computers and education.

One of Phillip's passions is learning with and from others. He enjoys discussing education theory and often conducts consultations and workshops for international institutions, schools, organisations and individual teachers.

Outside of work, Phillip is a designer, maker and repairer of all kinds of things including jewellery, furniture and gadgets. His dreams include owning a workshop and driving and hiking around Europe.