Paul Fleming, a Health Promotion Specialist by background, has recently taken up post as Head of Professional Practice in Health Sciences within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Southampton . Having started working life in education as a post-primary school teacher, he quickly moved into Health Education which was the name of the discipline in the pre-Health Promotion era. Having undertaken postgraduate study in Health Education he worked during the early 1980s as a Health Education Officer in the Northern and Eastern Health and Social Services Boards in Northern Ireland. During that time he developed a specific interest in professional development of staff in the health, education, voluntary and community sectors.
Following a period teaching, first in international schools in Papua New Guinea and then in a unit for Emotionally Behaviourally Disturbed Adolescents in Northern Ireland, Paul returned to Health Promotion. He was the first Training and Professional Development Manager for the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland when it was established in 1991, being initially responsible for a complete review of Health Promotion education and training in the Province. As part of the review, the absence of a higher education qualification in Health Promotion in Northern Ireland was identified and Paul was seconded part-time to the University of Ulster to establish their MSc in Health Promotion.
Moving to the University’s Department of Nursing full-time in 1994, Paul held, in addition to his core lecturing roles, a succession of posts. These included Co-ordinator of International Activity, Co-ordinator of Academic Affairs in Health Promotion, Faculty Co-ordinator of Teaching and Learning and, laterally, Associate Dean in the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences. In this role, Paul took primary responsibility for all matters related to curriculum development and quality and standards in teaching and learning.
In 2009 Paul moved to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand as Pro-Vice Chancellor (Science), having responsibility for Departments and Research Centres in the University’s College of Science. These were Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Communication Disorders, Geography, Geological Sciences, Physics and Astronomy and Psychology. Research Centres included the Biomolecular Interaction Centre, Gateway Antarctica, The Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management and the Centre for Risk, Resilience and Recovery. In this role Paul had overall responsibility for all matters relating to research, learning and teaching, and academic enterprise in Science. He was also the academic lead in the development of a new £120 million Science and Innovation Centre.
As an academic, Paul has taught primarily in the areas of Health Promotion Theory, Programme Planning and Management and Evidence-Based Practice. In terms of research, Paul’s interests have primarily been in workplace health, sexual health, and evaluation of health promotion provision. His PhD focused on reflection in health promotion and public Health. He is currently developing an already established interest in Health literacy and writing a book on Workplace Health with two colleagues from Ireland and the UK.