Paul Maddison

Paul is Director of the UNSW Defence Research Institute. Although located at the UNSW Canberra at ADFA campus, Paul is responsible for enabling, facilitating and integrating UNSW’s ground-breaking defence research capacity across the whole of the university in both Sydney and Canberra. With a mandate to build deeper relationships and increased collaboration with Commonwealth, State, industry and international partners, the Defence Research Institute aims to strengthen UNSW’s position as Australia’s leading defence university, and to play a defining role in accelerating the delivery of capability for the Australian Defence Force. Paul is a graduate of Canada’s Royal Military College and served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 37 years. He commanded at all levels, both at sea and ashore, and retired in 2013 from his appointment as Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy. Paul returned to public service in 2015 and served until 2019 as High Commissioner of Canada to Australia, with accreditation to seven Pacific island countries. In this role, Paul was tireless in his pursuit of strengthened bilateral relations between Australia and Canada, with a focus on collaboration in the public policy, trade, social and security sectors. A newly minted Australian citizen, Paul is an (ice) hockey (Toronto) and Aussie Rules (Essendon) fan, who also enjoys running (slowly), swimming, gardening, and reading. He is married to Fay, who hails from Darwin, NT, and who was the strength behind his uniform in Canada for over 25 years. https://dri.unsw.edu.au/vice-admiral-paul-maddison-retd