Paul Lachlan Ryder

Dr. Paul Lachlan Ryder is an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales within the Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture. He teaches strategic design, strategic dynamics, structuralism, semiotics, and communication theory, bringing extensive practical experience from his background in founding educational, communications, and management consulting enterprises.

His primary research focuses on developing a 'general grammar of strategy' through a hermeneutics of strategy based on Foucault's 'grid of strategy and tactics.' This work has led to a three-dimensional tripartite construct that models strategy's internal dynamics across multiple domains including military, business, politics, and communication studies.

Ryder's research spans diverse areas including impact investing for social enterprises, strategic studies, critical discourse analysis, advertising strategy, public relations, and the structural semantics of war film. His work demonstrates a unique integration of high theory with practical strategic applications across multiple fields.

Ryder has supervised 12 doctoral dissertations, primarily as chair supervisor. His current PhD candidates include Irvan Wiradinata researching communication dynamics in a proposed trading platform between Indonesia and Australia, and Kristina Ilisevic examining transmogrified mythologies in contemporary online games. He maintains rigorous standards for prospective PhD candidates, requiring detailed research proposals with clear problem statements, coherent propositions, methodology, and literature reviews.

In addition to his academic work, Ryder has founded successful educational and management consulting enterprises, which inform both his research and teaching practices. He also maintains a scholarly interest in modern fiction, particularly examining the automobile as a narrative engine in early twentieth-century British and American literature.