Paul Warwick Thompson CBE FRSA (born 9 August 1959) is the current Chair of the British Council.^[1] He was Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art from 2009 to 2024.^[2]

Thompson was educated at Bryanston School, the University of Bristol (BA) and the University of East Anglia (MA, PhD).^[3]

Thompson worked as a scriptwriter and researcher for the Design Council 1987–88. He then joined the Design Museum as curator of contemporary design and from 1993 to 2001 was its director.^[3]

During 2001–09, Thompson was director of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, USA. In 2009, he took up his post at the Royal College of Art.^[4] He was a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from 2009-2023,^[5] and was on the board of visitors of the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford from 2013-2019.^[6] He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Universities UK from 2020-2023.^[7]

He is a member of the Wellcome Collection Programme Advisory Committee at the Wellcome Trust, London. He is an adjunct professor at Imperial College's Institute for Global Health Innovation. He co-directs the Helix Centre with Professor Lord Ara Darzi.^[8] Since 2020 he has been a member of the Board of Trustees, Creative UK.^[9]

He was awarded a CBE in the King’s Birthday Honours in June 2024 for services to the Arts.^[10]

• Dr Paul Thompson, Chair of the British Council Board of Trustees