Professor Richard Black is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Social Sciences. He joined the University of Birmingham in April 2018.
Richard’s research focuses on the relationship between migration, poverty, and climate change. He is currently leading a major project on the impact of development interventions on migration decision-making in West Africa funded by DFID and IOM, and was part of the Royal Geographical Society’s recently-completed “Migrants on the Margins” field research project which has explored the vulnerability of migrants to four cities in the Global South – Colombo, Dhaka, Hargeisa and Harare.
Richard has worked across West Africa for over 20 years, having first worked on forced migration and environmental change in Senegal and Guinea in the mid-1990s. In the early 2000s, he was part of the ‘Migration from Africa to Europe’ (MAFE) research programme funded by the European Commission, and working in partnership with UCAD and with the University of Ghana, Legon. He has published widely on migration and return in West Africa.
Over the past 30 years, Richard has published over fifty journal articles and nine books and edited collections on a wide range of topics relating to migration, refugees and development, based on field research across various sites in Africa, Asia and Europe. In 2011, he was lead author of a “Foresight” report for the Government Office.
Professor Richard Black is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Social Sciences. He joined the University of Birmingham in April 2018.
Richard’s research focuses on the relationship between migration, poverty, and climate change. He is currently leading a major project on the impact of development interventions on migration decision-making in West Africa funded by DFID and IOM, and was part of the Royal Geographical Society’s recently-completed “Migrants on the Margins” field research project which has explored the vulnerability of migrants to four cities in the Global South – Colombo, Dhaka, Hargeisa and Harare.
Richard has worked across West Africa for over 20 years, having first worked on forced migration and environmental change in Senegal and Guinea in the mid-1990s. In the early 2000s, he was part of the ‘Migration from Africa to Europe’ (MAFE) research programme funded by the European Commission, and working in partnership with UCAD and with the University of Ghana, Legon. He has published widely on migration and return in West Africa.
Over the past 30 years, Richard has published over fifty journal articles and nine books and edited collections on a wide range of topics relating to migration, refugees and development, based on field research across various sites in Africa, Asia and Europe. In 2011, he was lead author of a “Foresight” report for the Government Office.
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