text: Campbell was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Otago from 1948 to 1988. He was appointed as an assistant lecturer in 1948, rising to become a professor in 1971, and the Mellor Professor of Chemistry in 1983. He served as a member of the University Council from 1963 to 1971, dean of the Faculty of Science from 1980 to 1982, and head of the Department of Chemistry from 1983 to 1988. When he retired in 1988, he was conferred the title of professor emeritus.
  Campbells early research centred on carboxylic acid derivatives. However, he became interested in organic microanalysis, and developed many analytical procedures, and improved techniques for analysing perfluorinated organic compounds. Campbell served as chair of the Chemical Testing Registration Advisory Committee of the Testing Laboratory Registration Council of New Zealand from 1973 to 1985. Internationally, he was a Bureau Member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry from 1981 to 1989. The University of Otagos Campbell Microanalytical Laboratory is named in his honour.
  Between 1979 and 1980, Campbell was president of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry.