portrait shot of Richard

I am an accomplished academic leader with a record of establishing a collaborative/progressive learning environment, bringing technological innovations to the student experience, and enhancing student satisfaction across large UK universities, while directing large teams, optimising academic work planning policies, and developing transformative organisational change programmes.

  • Employers recognise me for my success in overseeing all aspects of portfolio development, quality enhancement, digital strategy formulation, budget administration, fund allocation, as well as global partnership and franchise management, while leading engineering, computing, and mathematics departments. 
  • I have proven expertise in reducing the minority ethnic attainment gap from 29% to 1% by establishing collaborative and private learning spaces and innovative assessment.
  • I have been successful in setting income generation targets for academic staff which boosted institutional earning from £380K to £700K within 4 years. 
  • As a change management champion, I have a history for re-branding departmental portfolios, restructuring undergraduate/post-graduate curricula, delivering institutional reporting mechanisms, and introducing academic performance management schemes. 
  • Throughout my career, I have earned a reputation as an intuitive coach; leading educational initiatives and mentorship to ensure development and empowerment of staff members and academic leaders across the higher education sector. 
  • Moreover, I served as a chair and member of multiple institutional level committees and academic boards.

Leadership Accomplishments

  • Directed re-design of UG/PG curricula and implemented revised institutional academic work planning policies, together with an integrated approach to academic developmental review. 
  • Drove adoption of FHEA attainment to develop academic staff, impacting student learning as institutional attainment increased from 60% to 67% in two years.
  • Leveraged fellowship as a developmental instrument for academic staff; Improved FHEA and SFHEA recognition from 68% to 77% in two years.
  • Increased NSS course satisfaction and student attainment by establishing an institutional reporting mechanism for programme performance, increasing the institutional student satisfaction score from 81% to 86% in one academic cycle.

I joined the University of Huddersfield in 2017 as Head of Department of Computer Science and I have continued to innovate with the curriculum, develop research capability in staff, manage academic performance and champion inclusivity. I became a Fellow and Chartered Manager of the Chartered Management Institute in 2017, a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2019, and a Senior Member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers during 2022.

I was awarded an AdvanceHE National Teaching Fellowship in 2022 for my contributions to the development of inclusive practice within Higher Education.

I have published in excess of 150 peer-reviewed research articles which have accrued over 2,000 citations, and I am affiliated to the ATLAS project at CERN.

I am regularly invited to speak at leadership events about my work on leading inclusive teaching and academic performance management. I also present my research in Cloud Computing and Industrial Digital Technology at international conferences.

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