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Director, Centre for Western Sydney, Western Sydney University

Professor Phillip O’Neill is Director of the Centre for Western Sydney at Western Sydney University. Previously he was Foundation Director of the Urban Research Centre at WSU, and Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Newcastle.

Phillip is a widely published international scholar with expertise relating to economic and industrial change especially in large cities.

He had held visiting research fellowships at Bristol University, The University of Massachusetts, the National University of Singapore, the University of Oxford and University College London. Phillip was Editor-in-Chief of the journal Geographical Research 2010-14. He sits on the editorial boards of a number of leading international journals and is a member of the advisory board of iBuild, a leading UK infrastructure research venture.

Phillip has held six prestigious Australian Research Council grants including his current grants which investigate Australia’s obstinate infrastructure problems and international infrastructure financing trends.

Phillip writes regular columns for the Fairfax regional and community press and is a prominent media commentator.

In recent times he has completed a 25 year outlook study of employment for Western Sydney, an investigation of mortgage distress in significantly affected Western Sydney neighbourhoods, a detailed audit of Sydney’s threatened agricultural lands, and a path-breaking analysis of Sydney's fresh fruit and vegetable supply chains.

Experience

  • 2006–2016
    Professor, Western Sydney University

Honours

Fellow of the Institute of Australian Geographers (awarded 2008); NSW Geographical Society's McDonald Holmes Medal for Geographical Education (awarded 2015)