Paul Stephens

Dr Paul Stephens is the Computer Science Lead for Teesside University London. His previous roles have included Head of Department of Computing, and Director of Academic Studies in Law, Policing & Social Sciences at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). On leaving CCCU, he was appointed Honorary Academic in Cybercrime and Digital Policing.

He has a BSc (Hons) in Information Technology with Social Science and a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching (Higher Education) from CCCU, a Professional Diploma in Management from the Open University, an MSc in Distributed Systems & Networks from the University of Kent, and a PhD in Computer Science from University College Dublin.

He is a Chartered Fellow of the BCS: The Chartered Institute for IT (CITP FBCS) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He is a founding committee member of the BCS Cybercrime Forensics Specialist Group established in 2008. He held the position of Specialist Group Membership Secretary between 2008 and 2018, and Treasurer between 2018 and 2022. Since 2019, he has been the Co-Vice Chair of the IFIP 11.12 Working Group on Human Aspects of Information Security and Assurance and has been an active member of this group since 2012.

He is an experienced external advisor/examiner and has worked in this capacity with Politihøgskolen (Norwegian Police University College), Abertay University, Wrexham University, University of South Wales, University of Gloucestershire, University of Ulster, Leeds Beckett University, University of Portsmouth, University of Derby, University of Sunderland, Cardiff Metropolitan University, University of Lancashire, and University of Greenwich.

He has collaborated with and taught representatives of law enforcement organisations from across Europe on digital crime-related matters. His work has involved partnerships with the College of Policing and the Justice Institute of British Columbia to develop and deliver academic Masters courses. Additionally, he led the development and delivery of European Commission-funded research and training in digital forensics for EU member states and law enforcement agencies, including Europol, CEPOL, Interpol, and UNODC.

He has written and presented widely on cybersecurity and digital forensics and some of his contributions can be found in Policing Digital Crime (published by Routledge), Investigating Digital Crime (published by Wiley), and Blackstone's Handbook for Policing Students (published by Oxford University Press).