Professor Murphy was educated at the University of Melbourne (history) and Monash University (politics) and taught for many years at RMIT University, where he was Director of the Centre for Applied Social Research, until 2005. After moving to the University of Melbourne, he was Director of the Australian Centre in 2006, and then Associate Dean (Research and Research Training) in the Faculty of Arts from 2007 to 2010.
He is currently Assistant Dean (PhD program) in the faculty, and PhD coordinator for the School of Social and Political Sciences.
Professor Murphy's research work has focused on the interface between politics and history, and he has published work on various aspects of Australian political and social history, and on social policy regimes.
