PROFILE
A former British Royal Navy Aircrew Officer and former Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco, Paul is a Neuroscientist, Exercise Physiologist and Nutritionist who is currently completing a PhD in Applied Psychology, where he is developing and testing resilience strategies with the Australian Defence Science Technology Group & The University of Newcastle.
He is the Director of Paul Taylor Consulting, where he delivers stress fitness (resilience 2.0), leadership and performance workshops to companies such as Oracle, SAP, PWC, NAB, CBA, BUPA & the Australian Military.
In 2010 Paul created and co-hosted the TV series Body and Brain Overhaul and he appeared regularly on The Biggest Loser TV series as a subject matter expert. He was voted Australian Fitness Industry presenter of the year twice and in 2022, he published the book Death By Comfort.
Paul is the host of The Paul Taylor Podcast, and his latest venture is The Mental Fitness Project, an online program and App that is currently used by a number of Corporations and has proven benefits for resilience, mental wellbeing and levels of burnout of participants.
Paul has a proven track record in Leadership and dealing in high-pressure situations, through his former roles as an Airborne Anti-submarine Warfare Officer and a Helicopter Search-And-Rescue Crew Member with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm.
He has undergone rigorous Military Combat Survival and Resistance-to-Interrogation Training and in 2012, he became a professional boxer. In 2019, he took up Karate to create memories with his kids and in 2021, both Paul and his 10-year-old Oscar became Australian Karate Kumite (combat) Champions.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Becoming Stress Fit
Why would you aspire to be ‘resilient’ when human beings are capable of so much more?
In this thought-provoking talk, Paul will explore the human stress response and how developing high levels of Stress Fitness enables you to adapt positively to the inevitable challenges that life throws at you and ultimately emerge stronger and better.
The talk will then go through a range of evidence-based rituals that integrate and optimise the mind, body and brain to move you up the Stress Fitness continuum.
Wellbeing - A Biopsychosocial Approach
Western medicine has historically employed a reductionist, dualistic, biomedical model, where there is no role for the mind in physical ailments.
This notion is slowly being challenged by the emergence of a new Biopsychosocial approach, which recognises the body-brain connection and the impact of both psychological and social factors in both wellness and disease.
In this stimulating talk, Paul will examine the Body-Brain connection through a review of Placebo science and explore the impact of exercise, sleep, nutrition, gut health, resilience and social connectedness on overall physical and mental wellbeing.
The Big 4 of Mental Toughness
In this session, Paul will use his unique combination of research and practical experience in stressful situations to explain both our stress response systems and the concepts of resilience and stress adaptation. He will then present the ‘Big 4’ practical tools used by US Special Forces that will help us not only survive – but thrive – in the face of modern stressors, and move beyond resilience to being stress adapted, where we grow because of stress exposure.
Shift Happens
Behaviour change is a much-studied concept, but still remains the elusive holy grail for many people, who know what to do but aren’t doing it. In this keynote talk, Paul will explore change from a neuroscience perspective, examine the science of habits, and present a model of behaviour change that he has formulated over the years and successfully used successfully with thousands of individuals to help them close the knowing-doing gap.
