Paul’s research focusses on the implications of rapid food system transformations in a rapidly changing world.

There is an urgent need for a Great Food Transformation to reduce environmental harm and to increase food system resilience. Paul is working on integrated models to assess the environmental and social impacts of such a transition on both consumers and producers. His research program explores the social outcomes of this transformation—from changes in subsidies and land management to increasing food security.

Paul is the author of the popular science book, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science (Indigo Press, 2021) which describes humanity’s current trajectory and possible futures in paired chapters of pessimism and hope. His research and writing on climate, energy, and food, has appeared in scientific journals and media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Thomson Reuters, Politico, Nature Sustainability, Nature Energy, PNAS, Nature Food, and Nature Communications. He is an editor and author of the interdisciplinary textbook Food and Sustainability (Oxford University Press, 2020). Paul won International Champion in the Frontiers Planet Prize in 2023.