Dr Paul Anand holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford University, researches human wellbeing and supports colleagues developing research impact. Early in his career he worked on decision theory and risk, and was a student at Wolfson College, Oxford. Subsequently he held the Royal Economics Society postdoctoral fellowship at the University of York and Darwin College, Cambridge, and then was a Research Fellow of Templeton College, Oxford.

His later research has focused on human wellbeing where he developed some of the first empirical measures to operationalise Amartya Sen's theory of human flourishing and agency. He has served as principal or co-investigator on grants totalling nearly $1 million. Impact work includes collaborations with the UK's National Audit Office, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (New York), and the NHS including the development of the OXCAP-MH wellbeing measure for evaluating mental health interventions. In 2012 he founded a charity supporting research and interactions between academics and practitioners.

He lives in London and Oxford, has two adult children, and volunteers at Oratory meals for the homeless.