Dr Paul Martin CBE

Dr Paul Martin CBE is a security practitioner with more than thirty years’ experience in the UK national security arena. During a career in UK government service from 1986 to 2013 he held a variety of senior positions, including heading the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI, now NPSA) and leading national security preparations for the London 2012 Olympics. He is also a former Director of Security for the UK Parliament.

Currently, Paul is a part-time Professor of Practice at Coventry University’s London-based Protective Security Lab, an Honorary Principal Research Fellow at Imperial College London, a member of the Police Science Council, a member of the advisory board of the Leadership College for Government and an independent adviser to various UK government entities and private sector organisations.

Paul was educated at the University of Cambridge and Stanford University, where he was a Harkness Fellow. He subsequently lectured and researched in behavioural science at Cambridge and was a Fellow of Wolfson College before leaving academia to join government service. He is the author or co-author of several behavioural science books including Measuring Behaviour; The Sickening Mind; Design for a Life; Counting Sheep; Making Happy People; Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation; and Extreme. His two most recent books have been about security: The Rules of Security (2019) and Insider Risk and Personnel Security (2024).