Paul has a background as an economic advisor having conducted many feasibility and economic appraisals for Government and commercial projects in the Middle East and elsewhere. This followed an earlier career in Public Relations and Marketing. He hold a degree in Physiology and Psychology from Oxford and an MBA from Cranfield, and is currently taking respite from a PhD at the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham; he is deeply interested in the Political Economy of Development and the Middle East in particular; human rights are an essential element of this having recently completed a pricing policy analysis of bread pricing for the Government of Lebanon.