Paul Younger holds the Rankine Chair of Engineering and is Professor Energy Engineering at the University of Glasgow, where he has been leading research on geothermal energy and other aspects of low-carbon energy since 2012. He is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Geologist, and has been accorded the two professional honours of election to the Royal Academy of Engineering (2007) and the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2016). He also holds two honorary doctorates, from leading universities in Spain and Peru – reflecting decades of engagement in Spain and Latin America, facilitated by his fluent Spanish. Paul has enjoyed a varied career ranging from early days in pure science (principally geology), through water resources and environmental engineering (especially groundwater engineering), on through mining environmental engineering to energy engineering. There are several persistent threads running through all of these experiences, mainly to do with quantitative geoscience, numerical modelling of fluid flow and reactive mass transfer, and the translation of high-level conceptual principles into hands-on engineering solutions – invariably for purposes which he believes are socially and environmentally benign.
Paul owes his formal education to Newcastle University (BSc and PhD) and Oklahoma State University (MS), where he spent two very happy years as a Harkness Fellow (1984-86). His education was extended – and continues to be – by industrial experience. This has included periods working with Yorkshire Water, the National Rivers Authority, Centro Yunta (La Paz, Bolivia) and Northumbrian Water (as a Royal Academy of Engineering secondee). In addition, Paul has co-founded five companies over the years, and remains a director of two, which are active in the water and geothermal energy sectors. Paul spent just under 20 years at Newcastle University, where he taught water and environmental engineering; founded and led the HERO research group (which won the University the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for the first time in 2005); established what is now the Sir Joseph Swan Centre for Energy Research; founded and Directed the Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability; served as the University’s Public Orator; and was the UK’s first-ever Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement. He joined Glasgow University in August 2012.
At Glasgow, Paul is currently lead supervisor for seven PhD students and manages a team of five postdocs. Paul serves on the University’s governing body (Court) and is centrally involved in efforts to improve the efficiency and lower the carbon emissions of the campuses; he now has formal responsibility for this as Chair-designate of the University’s new Sustainability Governance Board. As a fluent speaker of Scottish Gaelic, he also serves on the university’s Gaelic Committee. Beyond the university, Paul is active on the Engineering Policy Committee of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Irish Centre for Applied Geosciences, and currently chairs the Advisory Committee of the British Geological Survey. Paul is a popular and entertaining public speaker and has also undertaken a great deal of media work, both in press and broadcast outlets. His prolific media activity is manifest in more than ninety articles or programmes in the last four years, most of which has dealt with contentious issues in the energy sector.
