Philip Hughes has post-graduate degrees in philosophy, education and theology. His doctorate in theology involved a study of the expression of the Christian faith in the Thai context.

He is a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia, although originally ordained in the Baptist Church. He has had pastoral experience in three churches: in the inner city, a rural town in Victoria, and a suburb of Melbourne.

Philip Hughes works four days per week for the CRA. He is also employed by Edith Cowan University on projects on church and community and insecurity and well-being.