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Sports consultant, lecturer, advisor, Curtin University

Paul works to create innovative solutions to address contemporary challenges affecting modern sport. He has provided specialist strategic advice and training on sports participation, inclusion, ethics and discrimination issues to a range of government agencies and national/state sporting organisations.

He has researched and co-wrote seminal reports in Australian sport such as: Access all levels: drugs and doping in grassroots sport (2013), Gender equity in the AFL: What it will take to be the best (2014), and as Director of Communication and Education at the Australian Human Rights Commission he wrote: What’s the Score? A Survey of Cultural Diversity and Racism in Australian Sport (2007). As National Manager of Play by the Rules and Director of the Australian Sport Commission’s Integrity in Sport Unit he developed the ‘Racism, it stops with me’ sport campaign, and the ‘7 Pillars of Inclusion’ model for promoting diversity and inclusion in sport, which has been adopted by several NSOs.

Paul has a BA in Communications, a Masters in International and Community Development, and a PhD on the power of sport to break down cultural barriers and build social bridges. He lectures at UWS on Strategic Communications and Sport Management.

Experience

  • 2015–present
    Sports Project Advisor, Australian Human Rights Commission
  • 2015–present
    Lecturer, University of Western Sydney
  • 2014–present
    Director, Oliver & Thompson Consultancy
  • 2013–2014
    Senior Sports Consultant, Bluestone Edge
  • 2011–2013
    National Manager, Play by the Rules (Australian Sports Commission)
  • 2006–2010
    Director of Communications, Australian Human Rights Commission
  • 2003–2006
    Media Advisor, Australian Human Rights Commission
  • 2001–2003
    Senior Public Affairs Officer, Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
  • 1993–1999
    Managing Editor and Publisher, JP Sports Publications

Education

  • 2015 
    Curtin University, Doctor of Philosophy
  • 2002 
    Deakin University, MA International and Community Development
  • 1991 
    Macquarie University, BA Communications

Publications

  • 2014
    Discrimination cases in grassroots sport: Comparing Australian and English experiences, Journal of Sport and Society
  • 2012
    Maintaining belief in the power of sport, Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues

Research Areas

  • Studies In Human Society (16)
  • Sport And Leisure Management (150404)