Paul is a Senior Lecturer of Sport Development at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has a PhD from the University of Manchester, and is a core member of Edinburgh University’s Academy of Sport, co-founder of the Football Collective, and research editor at Connect Sport.

His research focuses on the consumption and production of sport and culture in society. Underlying these academic fields, his substantive research area is in the importance of place and networks. For the former he is interested in the contexts and mechanisms that make place a key driver in the formation and maintenance of cultural lifestyles and consumption behaviours. For networks his approach is to understand consumption from a relational sociology position, using predominantly a social network analysis methodology to explore relational and interactional dynamics. Place and networks are fundamental to understanding how consumption and production operates in modern societies.

Paul has published widely in a variety of outlets, which include, books, academic journals, sport sector publications, and international online blogging sites. He is currently writing a monograph on social networks and new movements in sport for Routledge publishing house.

Paul is currently focused on building two academic communities of practice, one focused on football research, The Football Collective, and the other focused on community sport, Connect Sport.