Paul Young is Emeritus Professor of Virology at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. He gained his PhD from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and joined the University of Queensland in 1991. His group has contributed significantly in the areas of diagnostics, vaccine and antiviral development as well as towards a greater understanding of the basis of severe viral disease.

With colleagues at UQ, he co-led an Australian consortium that developed a COVID-19 vaccine in early 2020, based on an innovative platform technology created at UQ, the Molecular Clamp. The vaccine candidate was taken through clinical trials and while the vaccine did not progress, the trials validated the potency of the platform technology. The platform was re-engineered and following successful clinical trials, the technology was acquired by Sanofi in 2025.

Prof Young is President-elect of the International Union of Microbiological Societies, is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Queensland Academy of the Arts and Sciences and has been the President of the Australian Society for Microbiology (2012-2014), the Australasian Virology Society (2001-2011) and the Asia-Pacific Society for Medical Virology (2012-2015).