Paul is an Assistant Professor in Human Geography and has worked at Northumbria University since 2016. His research interests primarily connect with the sub-field of labour geography and related concepts such as agency, resistance and solidarity.

In practice, his work has engaged with historical geographies of labour activism and work related experiences. His research has engaged closely with ideas of spatial politics through the histories of 'Red Clydeside'. He has also worked on a project to consider collective responses to UK unemployment since the late 1970s. This involved working closely with Unemployed Workers' Centres to document their pasts and to revist demonstrations like the 1981 People's March for Jobs. This work was funded by the British Academy and Economic History Society, with articles relating to these works to be found below under publications. 

Most recently, he has began to develop research connections with credit unions to think through their role as alternative economic providers, and links with ideas of solidarity economies. From October 2025, he will begin a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to consider these histories through a combination of oral history, archival and community-led research.

Through these engagements and wider conversations, Paul has also developed a wider interest in the role of archives in maintaining and providing access to 'usable pasts'. 

In terms of his teaching, Paul teaches widely across the BA Geography programme, including as module tutor on Introduction to Human Geography (first year) and Historical Geographies (final year). He was also BA Geography programme leader between 2021-2024. More broadly, he has recently published an article with colleages around reflexive journal writing and the importance of discomfort in shaping student learning. 

Paul was also the Historical Geography Section Editor for Geography Compass between 2019-2024.

My research and teaching interests can be found across political and economic geography and more specifically labour geography. I am interested in the ways in which economic geography is experienced from below and how workers, and non-workers, can shape and reshape their material conditions. I am keen to develop this research interest in both historical and contemporary settings. My doctoral research was largely archival and as a result of this I have developed a further research interest in historical geography, particularly debates regarding the archive and the production of usable pasts.

Summary of current research interests:

1. Labour geography
2. Histories of labour activism and internationalism
3. Unemployment - linking with ideas of community, support and resistance
4. Credit unions and alternative economies