Associate Professor Paul Simpson

Position

Associate Professor of Paramedicine

Biography

Paul is a registered paramedic and Associate Professor of Paramedicine at Western Sydney University (Western). From 2013 to 2022, he served as the inaugural Director of Paramedicine at Western and now contributes to institutional governance as Deputy Chair of the University's Human Research Ethics Committee. He also founded the Australasian Council of Paramedicine Deans, where he served as inaugural Chair from 2018 to 2022.

Paul stays actively engaged across research, regulatory, and professional leadership domains. In research, he currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Paramedicine, an international peer-reviewed journal published by the Australasian College of Paramedicine and the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada. He is also the immediate past Editor-in-Chief of the Australasian Journal of Paramedicine.

On the regulatory front, Paul is a Practitioner Member of the Paramedicine Council of NSW, an accreditation assessor with Ahpra, and from 2022–2025 served as Chair of the National Competency Assessment Consortium, working in partnership with the Paramedicine Board of Australia.

In professional leadership, he contributes as a Director on the Board of the Australasian College of Paramedicine.

Outside of these roles, Paul is a strong advocate for sustainable academic life. Having once lost his own balance, he now speaks openly about the value of pacing, perspective, and maintaining well-being in higher education and healthcare.

Research Interests

• Paramedicine
• Paramedicine education
• Paramedic provision of mental health care
• Paramedicine academic workforce issues
• Work-integrated learning in paramedicine education
• Clinical reasoning and decision making

Professional Memberships

• Fellow of Australian and New Zealand College of Paramedicine (1997 - 2017)
• Paramedics Australasia (1997 - 2017)

Awards

• Solphus Falck Prehospital Research Award, International Conference on Emergency Medicine 2014-06-03
• Australian Prehospital Emergency Health Research Forum Best Paper Award 2014-10-21

Qualifications

• PhDPHCM University of New South Wales
• MSMCE University of Sydney
• GCPEM Victoria University
• GCCE Charles Sturt University
• BHSPH Charles Sturt University
• BED University of Wollongong

Research & Publications

• For a complete list of my publications please see my publications page (opens in a new window)
• View my Researchgate page (opens in a new window)

Contact Details