Paul Gibbard is an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities at the University of Western Australia, within the Discipline of European Languages and Cultures. He earned his BA from the University of Adelaide and MPhil and DPhil from the University of Oxford, with his doctoral research examining anarchism in late nineteenth-century French and English literature. After completing his doctorate, he served as a researcher at the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford, contributing to the Œuvres complètes de Voltaire. Prior to his current position, Gibbard taught and conducted research at the Universities of Adelaide, Melbourne, Monash University, and New England.

His research interests center on French literature spanning the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, including works by Voltaire and Rousseau, eighteenth-century women's writing, the nineteenth-century French novel, literary representations of anarchism, and the French exploration of Australia from 1800 to 1820. Gibbard has participated in Australian Research Council projects such as the Baudin Legacy, The Political Thought of Enlightenment Women, and acted as Chief Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions. Key publications include The French Collector: Journal and Letters of Théodore Leschenault, Botanist of the Baudin Expedition (UWA Publishing, 2023), his translation of Émile Zola's The Dream (Oxford World's Classics, 2018)—shortlisted for the Australian Academy of the Humanities Medal for Excellence in Translation—and co-editor of Political Ideas of Enlightenment Women: Virtue and Citizenship (Ashgate, 2017). Recent works feature 'A Chronology of Colette' (Oxford University Press, 2025) and 'Translation nation: literary translation as cultural mediation in Australia' (Forum for Modern Language Studies, 2025). He has delivered public lectures, including 'Joséphine and the French Exploration of Australia' (2024), won the Museum and Galleries National Awards for 'Western Australia's Freycinet Collection' (2015), and coordinates the French Honours program while teaching French Studies and specialised translation courses.

Professional Email: paul.gibbard@uwa.edu.au