Paul John Layzell, (born 23 July 1957) is a British academic, academic administrator, and software engineer.
Since August 2010, he has served as Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London.
He is also Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of London and Treasurer of Universities UK.He previously worked at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), rising to become Professor of Computer Science (1995–2004) and its Pro-Vice-Chancellor (2000–2004).
He then joined its successor, the University of Manchester, where he was Vice-President (University Development) from 2004 to 2006.
Before joining Royal Holloway, he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex (2006–2010).