portrait shot of Richard

I have over 20 years’ experience of transforming teaching and research in the UK, working with employers, international research organisations, and secondary school feeders, to support students into graduate roles.

I am committed to inclusive higher education. This requires compassionate and transformative leadership to make the changes necessary for more people to experience the potential of a university experience.

Born in Leeds, I attended a large comprehensive school before studying a Manufacturing Engineering degree at Leeds Polytechnic, sponsored by Vickers PLC. I then completed a masters degree part-time as a Teaching Company Associate (precursor to KTP) and then became a Chartered Engineer, leading project teams in the automotive industry.

These formative experiences shaped my outlook on the potential of people; my employers were rationalising their businesses leaving large swathes of the workforce unemployed. I became increasingly involved in staff development work and I decided to use technology to create opportunities for people, rather than to make them redundant.

I joined Sheffield Hallam University in 2000 as a Lecturer in Computing, starting a part-time PhD in 2003. I introduced a number of innovative postgraduate programmes that focused on transforming graduates into highly-skilled employment, doubling the intake in two years. I completed my PhD in 2007.

In 2010 I became a Senior Manager at the University of Derby. I received a Professorship (2012) and led institutional projects on learning and teaching, facilities, research transformation and the intelligent use of resources for organisational intelligence, for inclusive education and to widen participation.

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, and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2019.

I have published in excess of 150 peer-reviewed research articles which have accrued over 1,900 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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