Rod Phillips

Rod Phillips is a Professor in the Department of History at Carleton University (College of Humanities and Social Sciences). His scholarly work spans early modern European history, focusing on eighteenth-century France, the French Revolution, and the history of the family. He is also a leading authority on wine and alcohol history, with recent projects exploring human-cat relationships as cultural mirrors. As Editor of the Journal of Family History, he has shaped discourse in the field, and his journalism includes a weekly wine column for the Ottawa Citizen and contributions to global wine publications.

• Education: B.A. (Trent University, Canada), M.A. (University of Otago, New Zealand), D.Phil. (University of Oxford, UK)

Phillips’ research integrates social, cultural, and economic history, with a particular emphasis on how everyday substances like wine and alcohol reflect broader societal trends. His current projects include a book on wine during the French Revolution (supported by an SSHRC Insight Grant) and a forthcoming monograph on 9,000 years of human-cat relationships (2026). He teaches undergraduate courses on the history of alcohol, food, the family, the French Revolution, and early modern European everyday life.

He supervises graduate research on topics such as terroir transfer in wine culture and has judged international wine competitions. His scholarly accolades include research fellowships across six countries and invitations to present papers globally, from China to South Africa.