Paul is LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at Cambridge University, UK. He is Director of the PEDAL Research Centre, where he leads a research team investigating the role of play in children’s early development. He also works as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in the UK National Health Service.

He trained as a doctor in Southampton before training as a child and adolescent psychiatrist.  He took a degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine before studying for a doctorate (DPhil) at Oxford University. Prior to taking up his appointment in Cambridge in January 2018, Paul led the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Group at Imperial College London.

Paul's research is focussed on early child development and he has a particular interest in child and parental play and also the prevention of emotional and behavioural difficulties. Much of this work has explored the role of fathers, as well as mothers, in children’s lives and development and includes the development and testing of psychological interventions and detailed observational studies of parents and young children. This research is supported by grant funding from the LEGO Foundation, the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and the Nuffield Foundation.

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