Dr Phillip Wadds is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at UNSW, Sydney. His research is situated at the intersection of four interrelated themes: policing; nightlife and related leisure; alcohol and other drugs; and violence. He has spent the last decade undertaking ethnographic and field-based research examining various features of nightlife in Sydney with an enduring focus on its policing and regulation.

Phillip has project managed a number of major research projects, including the NDLERF funded Patron Offending and Intoxication in Night-Time Entertainment Districts (POINTED) Project  and NSW Health funded Alcohol Combined with Energy Drinks (ACED) project. He is currently Chief Investigator on a NSW Department of Justice funded research project evaluating the Take Kare Safe Space Program that has been operating in key nightlife precincts across Sydney since 2014 and a project investigating the nature and extent of violence, sexual violence and issues of public safety at Australian music festivals.

In 2018, Phillip was appointed to the City of Sydney's Nightlife and Creative Sector Advisory Panel and the Randwick City Council Night-time Economy Advisory Committee.

Phillip's research interests include the night-time economy, music festivals, alcohol and drug related harm and violence, crime prevention, policing policy and practice, plural policing, urban governance and the relationship between the media, crime and policing.