After obtaining his BSc in Computing Science from Imperial College in 1981 Paul went on to study for his PhD in Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh. In 1984 he joined the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute at the University of Edinburgh.
After spending 10 years in Edinburgh he joined Loughborough University in 1991 as a British Gas-Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellow to carry out multi-disciplinary research in computer-aided safe plant design. In 1998, after completing the Senior Research Fellowship, he was appointed Senior Lecturer then Reader, and in 1999 he became Professor of Computer Science. He was Head of the Department of Computer Science from August 2004 to January 2008; Director of the Research School of Informatics from August 2008 to July 2011 and Associate Dean (Research) from February 2010 to July 2011. He took up the role as Dean of Science from August 2011 until August 2014.
Paul has made major and sustained contribution in the area of computer-aided safety engineering. He and his group have developed techniques for partially automating the time-consuming manual process of carrying out hazard and operability studies (HAZOP). They have also extended HAZOP for continuous plants to batch plants, computer-controlled plants and UAVs (Unmanned Airborne Vehicles). He was awarded the Brennan medal in 1995 by the Institution of Chemical Engineers for his contribution to the book Computer Control and Human Errors. In 2002 he was awarded a Gatsby Fellowship to assist in the starting up of a university spin-out company, Hazid Technologies Ltd, to exploit the result of his research in computer-aided hazard identification in process plant design. His work with BAE systems on UAVs was one of the finalists at the IET Innovation Awards 2009. His joint work with BP and Igloo Vision on using VR to train process plant field operators was shortlisted for two IChemE Global Awards in 2015.
He has successfully supervised over 30 Doctorate and 3 MPhil students, and published over 200 papers.
Research areas
- Artificial Intelligence
- Adaptive Workflow Systems
- Software Tools for Safety Assessment
- Safety-Related Systems
- Computer-aided Learning
- Invited Speaker: INNS-CIIS-2014.
- Visiting Professor, Institute Technology of Brunei, 2014-2015
- Treasurer and Committee Member, UK Deans of Science, 2013-2015.
- Editorial Board, International Journal of Applied Intelligence, 1991-present.
- Member of EPSRC Peer Review College, 1995-1997, 2000-present
- JSPS Invitation Fellow, 2000 and 2012
- Keynote Speaker - First International Symposium on Socially and Technically Symbiotic System (STSS2012), Japan, August 2012
- Visiting Professor, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, 2009-2012
- Technical Director (non-executive), HAZID Technologies Ltd, 2002-2012
- Specialist Editor, Knowledge-based Systems, 2008- 2011
- Keynote Speaker – ISSSMC, Newcastle, August 2011
- Keynote Speaker - 2nd International Workshop on Real-Time Measurement, Instrumentation and Control (RTMIC 2011), Canada, June 2011
- Keynote Speaker, 3rd IEEE International Conference on Broadband Network & Multimedia Technology (IC-BNMT 2010), Beijing, China, October 2010
- Keynote Speaker, European Conference on Intelligent Management Systems in Operations, Salford, July 2009
- Editorial Board, Knowledge-based Systems, 2002-2008
- Keynote Speaker, 35th International Conference of Slovak Society of Chemical Engineering, May 2008
- Keynote Speaker, International Open Forum, Advanced System for Safety and Loss Prevention of Industrial Complex, Japan, January 2005
- Committee member and Treasurer of the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour, 2002-2004
- Programme Chairman, 16th International Conference on Industrial and Engineering Applications of AI and Expert Systems (IEA/AIE-2003), Loughborough
- Keynote Speaker - 8th International Workshop of the European Group for Structural Engineering Applications of AI, Loughborough, July 2001
- Keynote Speaker, Second International Conference on Intelligent Management Systems in Operations, Salford, July 2001
- Programme Chairman, 6th International Conference on Industrial and Engineering Applications of AI and Expert Systems (IEA/AIE-1993), Edinburgh
- Member of the BSI/ISO Prolog Standardisation Panel, 1986-1989