Sir Philip Campbell
Sir Philip Campbell has spent most of his career as a professional editor in science publishing. After post-doctoral research in upper-atmospheric physics at the University of Leicester, he became Physical Sciences Editor at Nature, and then, in 1988, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Physics World at the UK’s Institute of Physics. In 1995 he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Nature. In 2018 he became the Editor-in-Chief of Nature‘s publisher Springer Nature, which also publishes many scholarly books and academic journals. He retired from science publishing in 2023, and now undertakes advisory roles in the research landscape.
While at Nature, he spearheaded editorial content and also new multidisciplinary journals dedicated to research directly addressing societal challenges. He also championed scientific mentoring and good lab management. He was knighted for services to science in 2015. In 2019 he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of British Science Writers. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2024.
His contacts with Clare Hall members and Fellows arose especially in relation to research into mental illnesses, which he championed at Nature and across the publishing company from 2010, and also as a founding trustee and then Chair of the charity MQ: transforming mental health.
Select publications
- Declines in Mental Health Workforce Need to Be Met by More Rigorous Employer Support, Kelly McCain and Philip Campbell, Scientific American, 14 September (2021)
- Four principles to make evidence synthesis more useful for policy, Christl A. Donnelly, Ian Boyd, Philip Campbell, Claire Craig, Patrick Vallance, Mark Walport, Christopher J. M. Whitty, Emma Woods & Chris Wormald, Nature 558 361-364 (2018)
- Understanding the receivers and the reception of science’s uncertain messages, Philip Campbell, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 369 4891-4912 (2011), doi:10.1098/rsta.2011.0068
- Towards responsible use of cognitive enhancing drugs by the healthy, H Greely, B Sahakian, J Harris, R Kessler, M Gazzaniga, P Campbell, M Farah Nature 456 702-705 (2008)
- Escape from the impact factor, Philip Campbell, Ethics in science and environmental politics, 8 5-7 (2008)published online 3 January 2008, doi 10.3354/esep00078
- The music of digital computers, Philip Campbell, Nature, 324, 523-8 (1986)
Select awards
- Elected as Fellow of the Royal Society, 2024
- Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of British Science Writers, 2019
- Knight Bachelor for services to science, Queen’s Birthday Honours, 2015
- Hon DSc, University of Bristol, 2008
- Hon DSc, University of Leicester, 1999