Dr Phiri completed his Diploma of Higher Education, Nursing in 2001 and his Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Nursing in 2002 from Kingston University. In 2007 he completed the Diploma in Cognitive Therapy for Severe Mental Health Problems with University of Southampton and gained accreditation with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP). Awarded BABCP Fellowship status for significant contributions in the field of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in 2021. His keen interest in research stems from his first involvement in a pilot study providing Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) in a Primary Care setting to developing culturally adapted CBT for psychosis and the first UK based randomised controlled clinical trial of culturally adapted Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Psychosis (CaCBTp) for ethnic minority communities. He was awarded his doctoral thesis at the University of Southampton in 2012. He continues to maintain his interest in culture and psychopathology with a focus on cultural adaptations of evidence based interventions for racially minoritised diverse populations and Global Health. He has been with the National Health Service (NHS) for over 20 years, and has gained extensive clinical experience and expertise in working with adults of working age with severe mental illness in varied clinical settings including inpatient, community and forensic settings. Visiting Fellow with University of Southampton, where he provide lectures to the Psychology programmes on CBT and cultural adaptions and academic supervision.

He is also a visiting lecturer with Queen Mary University of London. Also a Fellow with the Pakistan Association for Cognitive Therapy (PACT). Contributions to advisory, leadership and review bodies include: European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (EABCT) Contributed to the Sofia Scientific Committee, Conference on the theme of Diversity and inclusion, (2018); British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Conference Advisory Group (formerly the Scientific Committee); Part of the UK Research & Development (UKRD) Summit organising Team. The UKRD is a professional community of R&D leaders across the NHS. NIHR Expert Portfolio Reviewer, this role entails reviewing eligibility of funded studies seeking adoption to the NIHR portfolio. An Academic Lead for the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) system at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust within the Research & Innovation Department. A member of the BABCP Equality & Culture Specialist Interest Group. Recently appointed to Chair of the External Advisory Board to the School of Psychology, University of Southampton.

Together with leading experts in the field Dr Phiri has published the book: Cultural Adaptation of CBT for Serious Mental Illness: A Guide for Training and Practice (2015) -A comprehensive guide designed to enable CBT practitioners to effectively engage people from diverse cultural backgrounds by applying culturally-sensitive therapeutic techniques. He is a peer reviewer for several journals including Schizophrenia Research; Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, Theory, Research and Practice, Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy; The Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and BJPsychOpen; The Lancet Regional Health Western Pacific, JMIR etc. He has also published papers and book chapters in his area of expertise.