Paul Cooper is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Wollongong (UOW) Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC). Paul served as the founding Director of the SBRC from 2010 until February 2020.

Paul has been involved in research on a wide variety of topics in sustainable buildings, energy systems, energy efficiency and fluid mechanics over the past forty two years. He holds a bachelor in Electrical Engineering, a masters in Science and Technology Studies and a PhD in Heat Transfer, all from Imperial College London. He joined UOW as a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UOW in 1988.

In 2019 Paul was awarded the James Harrison Medal of the Australian Institute for Refrigeration Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) the highest honour bestowed by AIRAH on an individual (only 5 such awards were made in the previous 10 years). This award was made in recognition of a lifetime contribution to the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC&R) industries.

Paul was the Head of the School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering at the University of Wollongong prior to taking up his appointment as the Founding Director of the UOW Sustainable Buildings Research Centre.

Paul was also the Faculty Advisor and the lead academic on the Team UOW Solar Decathlon China 2013 campaign. This project culminated in Team UOW winning the competition with the highest number of points scored by any team in the history of all the Solar Decathlon competitions around the world.

He also was one of the senior staff on the successful Team UOW Desert Rose Solar Decathlon House campaign. This two-year project culminated in the team winning second place in the Solar Decathlon Middle East Competition, held in the desert an hour's drive from Dubai in November 2018.