Paul Atkinson is the Director of Professional Development for the School of Design Technology at the University of Huddersfield. He qualified initially as a mechanical engineer, and then as an industrial designer before working in a variety of jobs in industry as a designer, design manager and director of a design consultancy for 10 years.

On moving into education as a career, Paul led Product Design and Industrial Design degrees before undertaking an MA in Design History and becoming a Principal Lecturer and the Coordinator for Historical and Contextual Studies. He is now responsible for organising and planning all staff research activity within the School.

Paul has had an active role in the Design History Society for a number of years, acting as Editor of the Society's Newsletter for three years before taking up a position on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History. He has spoken at a number of conferences around the world, and published articles on the design history, visual culture and material culture of the computer.