Philips primary role is to manage/steer the forest academy for EU decision makers /influencers but he also aims to ensure that all SMY’s english language publications/websites are completed to the highest standards. He was born in Ireland but grew up, studied and worked in Scotland before coming to Finland. His professional background is as a forester in the Scottish state forestry organisation and he has a keen interest in forest economics, planning, GIS, ecology and health and safety. He is often found hiking and geocaching in the forests and is slowly becoming Finnish with the lake swimming, with or without a sauna and soon winter swimming.