Paul graduated in Physics from Queen’s University Belfast and has spent most of his career at Oxford University where he served as Head of the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics. He has been Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellow and a visiting professor at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, Boulder, USA, the École Normale Supérièure, Paris and the University of Otago, New Zealand. His research has ranged from fundamental physics of quantum and non-linear optics to laser applications in engineering and chemistry relevant to reduction of climate-changing effects in the environment. He is an active member of a local church near Oxford and convener of the Oxford Forum for Science and Religion.