Paul received his BSc and PhD in Microbiology from University College Cork. Paul is the Head of Food Biosciences at Teagasc and a Principal Investigator with the APC Microbiome Ireland and Vistamilk SFI Centres, as well as Food for Health Ireland. He also co-ordinates the EU H2020 Innovation Action relating to microbiomes and the food chain, MASTER. He is a molecular microbiologist, with a particular focus on the microbiology of foods, the food chain and of animals/humans. Paul’s laboratory at Teagasc were winners at the Irish Laboratory of the Year Awards on multiple occasions. He has also received awards from the Society for Applied Microbiology, ESCMID and FEMS, and heads the Applied Microbiology section within Faculty of 1000 (Biology), and was included in the Clarivate list of highly cited researchers for 2018, 2019 and 2020.