Philip Payton is Emeritus Professor in the University of Exeter and Professor of History at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, as well as Honorary Professor at the Australian National University, Canberra. He is the former Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies in the University of Exeter. He edited Cornish Studies, published annually from 1993 to 2013, the only series of publications that seeks to investigate and understand the complex nature of Cornish identity, as well as to discuss its implications for society and governance in contemporary Cornwall.

He has written extensively on Cornish topics, and recent books include A.L. Rowse and Cornwall: A Paradoxical Patriot (2005), Making Moonta: The Invention of Australia's Little Cornwall (2007), John Betjeman and Cornwall: 'The Celebrated Cornish Nationalist' (2010), and (edited with Alston Kennerley and Helen Doe), The Maritime History of Cornwall (2014). He was awarded South Australian Historian of the Year 2017 by the History Council of South Australia.