Associate Professor David Paul
Associate Professor in Computational Science - School of Science and Technology
Biography
Associate Professor David Paul is a computer scientist interested in the Internet and distributed systems, privacy and security, and applied computer science. He completed his studies at the University of Newcastle, where he obtained Bachelor's degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science in 2004, before completing Honours in Computer Science in 2005 and a PhD titled "Deliberate Cooperation in Service-Oriented Environments: Dynamic Transactional Workflows for Web Services" in 2012.
From 2005 to 2015, Associate Professor Paul was employed by the Schizophrenia Research Institute, developing an interest in eHealth, while also teaching casually at the University of Newcastle. In 2014, he began working with the Health Behaviour Research Group, developing Web applications to conduct and assist with research. In 2015, he accepted a position as a Lecturer in Computational Science at the University of New England in the School of Science and Technology. He contributed to a complete redesign of all Computer Science curricula, for which the entire Computational Science team was awarded a School of Science and Technology Teaching Award in 2017. Additionally, Associate Professor Paul received a School of Science and Technology Development Award for the development of the introductory programming unit COSC110.
Since joining the University of New England, Associate Professor Paul's research interests have expanded into areas such as agriculture and sports science. He has been successful in securing several research grants and supervising research students.
Associate Professor Paul is especially interested in using technology in multidisciplinary settings where it can provide practical solutions. He has extensive experience combining multiple disparate datasets to allow more powerful analysis and modelling than would be possible with any single dataset alone, all while maintaining privacy, even for highly sensitive data.
While working for the Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank, Associate Professor Paul helped design and develop a system that combines clinical, neurophysiological, genetic, and brain image data, creating the largest brain research project ever undertaken in Australia. This system continues to support research into schizophrenia, one of the most perplexing mental disorders, contributing to a deeper understanding of the condition.
As part of his work with the Health Behaviour Research Group, Associate Professor Paul co-developed QuON, a system used by multiple institutions around Australia to conduct electronic surveys and aggregate data. QuON's closed-source version includes advanced features that are often challenging to implement in other online survey systems, such as supporting stratified randomised values, complex branching, automatic creation and dissemination of customised documents, and automated sharing of metadata with ANDS systems.
The skills and experience gained in mental health research were also instrumental in assisting the SheepCRC with the development of the ASKBILL system, which informs farmers of unusual risks to their sheep by combining livestock and pasture data with historic and forecast weather conditions. ASKBILL helps farmers manage their farms more efficiently and improve animal welfare. Another system, RamSelect, enables farmers to improve the genetic profile of their flocks by ranking rams based on criteria such as wool quality or growth rates, without requiring them to understand the genetic complexities involved.
While still engaged in projects related to mental health and agriculture, Associate Professor Paul’s research has broadened to include traditional computer science topics such as optimisation and software-defined networking, as well as new application areas like finance and sports science. His recent work includes contributions to the analysis of women's rugby league, cybersecurity in small to medium enterprises, and advancements in smart agricultural technology.
