Paul Graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of East Anglia in 1999 before going on to complete an MSc in Taught organic chemistry again at the UEA. He then worked at Derwent PLC as a chemical indexer before returning to UEA in 2002 to complete a PhD under the supervision of Dr Robert A Stockman investigating a novel procedure for the synthesis of trioxadispiroketals.

After a year long sabbatical for an expedition to travel by truck through Africa Paul returned to the region to work as a Medicinal Chemist at BioFocus PLC in Cambridge. He then made his second return to UEA in 2007 to take up a position as a senior demonstrator within the school of pharmacy. After 2 years in this role Paul was promoted to the position of ATS lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry. In 2011 he was one of the recipients for a UEA award for Excellence in Teaching.

Paul’s main research interests are in the development of electronic learning resources and natural product synthesis. Current projects include:

A novel way of organising course materials and resources: Interactive mind maps. Enhancing the student experience and improving student feedback: pilot study for the use of screencasting in undergraduate laboratory preparation. Synthetic studies toward the angucyclinone ring system of simocyclinone D8. Synthetic studies toward symplostatin 4 a novel antimalarial peptide.

Austin, M. J., Hearnshaw, S. J., Mitchenall, L. A., McDermott, P. J., Howell, L. A., Maxwell, A., Searcey, M.(2016)A natural product inspired fragment-based approach towards the development of novel anti-bacterial agentsin MedChemComm7.pp. 1387-1391 Full Text UEA Repository(Article)