Paul first joined IDD in 2013 to undertake a part-time MSc in International Development having studied humanities (also at the University of Birmingham) at an undergraduate level and having worked in scholarly publishing and international development. His MSc dissertation looked at the social and cultural impacts of environmental degradation on pastoralists in the Afar region of Ethiopia. He stayed within IDD to start an ESRC-funded PhD in 2016 and gained his MA in Social Research in 2018, with a thesis which asked and developed his research questions through a study of the relationship between climate change and disability in Tanzania.
In addition to undertaking his PhD part-time, Paul works as the Head of Strategic Partnerships for a UK-headquartered international organisation, CABI, which works in the fields of agricultural development and environmental management.