Mr Malcolm Richards

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About me

I am a Black and British, rurally and radically situated, scholar activist. I am a cis-heterosexual male, born in Hackney to Caribbean (Guyana and St Lucia) parents of African descent. I am the eldest of three children. I am an English and (English) Caribbean patois speaker. I am RastafarI.

I am a graduate of the Black Supplementary School Movement (Josina Machel and Dimbaleh, London). I have also been formally educated at every level of the English schooling system (from EYFS to PhD). I am a qualified teacher, former senior leader, and school governor, working across schools in urban, suburban, and rural England (United Kingdom).

Since 2022, I have worked at UWE Bristol in the School of Education and Childhood as Senior Lecturer in Education. I am the co-lead for the Equity in Education research strand for the Education and Childhood Research Group. I am also module lead for UTLH3L-30-M Introduction to Race, Social Justice, and Sustainablity (MA Education), and module co-lead for USSKHW-15-M Creating Healthy Food Systems (MSc Sustainable Food Systems). I am also a member of the research ethics board for UWE Bristol College of Health, Science and Society.  

I lecture on a range of topics around education, often including themes around education and schooling in rural and coastal areas, critical pedagogies, Critical Race Theory, social justice, anti-racism education and learning, Black (British) intellectual traditions, global food stories, creativity and culture, equity, diversity and inclusion, ethics in research, research methods on:  Primary Education (undergraduate), MA in Education (Distance Learning); MSc in Sustainable Food Systems ; and Doctor of Education EdD (postgraduate). I supervise a number of MA in Education dissertations each year, and am part of several doctoral student teams. 

I am the founder and director of Network for Black Studies in Education across Britain (NBSE), a research project based at UWE Bristol which aims to provide interdisciplinary research, study, and learning understanding the impacts of Black intellectual traditions in contemporary education. I am also Visiting Research Scholar with the Faculty of Education at University of Windsor (Canada), engaging in collaborative research, knowledge exchange, and collaborative writing. 

Area of expertise

I welcome enquiries from anyone interested in research on education and schooling in rural and coastal communities, Funds of Identity, critical pedagogies and methodologies, Black (British) intellectual traditons in Education, Anti-racist teaching and learning, experiences of Black and Global Majority teachers in schools, colleges, and universities, comparative analysis in teaching and learning across global South and global North contexts, and using of critical, creative, and reflective methodologies to deepen understanding of educational experiences. 

I am currently developing and leading research projects which explore histories of how the pedgogical expertise of Black and Global Majority teacher have informed policy, process, and practice of Anti-racist education and learning intiatives across Europe. Additionally, in partnership with colleagues at University of Windsor (Canada) and Botswana Open University (Botswana), I co-lead research on International Mobility Programmes in universities, and the experiences of Black, Indigenous, and Global Majority pre-service teachers.

I am a reviewer for several educational journals, and continue to contribute to wriitng and editing publications, reports and academic papers. I presented papers at academic conferences (national and international) and am a regular discussant to public educational forums, digital podcasts, and community education events.

For my scholarly activity, I have been awarded several awards, including Churchill Fellowship (2014); Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain Teacher Scholar (2019); University of Exeter Education Incubator (2020; 2021); and UWE Bristol Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Rapid Response Grant  (2024). 

In addition, I am co/owner of Bookbag, an independent bookshop in Exeter (UK: Devon), and co-founder and editor for Proof House Press, an independent publisher of stories, poetry, and essays. 

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