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Prof Richard Grayson

Positions held:
  • Executive Dean (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences), Humanities and Social Sciences Central
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  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Richard Grayson joined Birkbeck in September 2026 from Oxford Brookes where he spent three years, first as Head of the School of Education, Humanities and Languages, then as a faculty Dean of Research, Knowledge Exchange and Innovation. Prior to that, he was at Goldsmiths, University London, where he spent eighteen years, latterly as Head of History and Professor of 20th Century History, and where he also led in various university-wide roles.

    Richard's initial research was on inter-war British foreign policy, publishing two monographs in 1997 and 2001, on Austen Chamberlain's term of office as foreign secretary in 1924-29, and on the Liberal Party's attitude to international policy in 1919-39. At that time, he also published on the history of the Channel Tunnel project and how Mods and Rockers were viewed in relation to 'juvenile delinquency' in the 1960s. He continued to work on inter-war forign policy publishing articles on Leo Amery but since 2005, he has focused on Ireland's First World War and the Irish Revolution. His main works are his three monographs: Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War (London: Continuum, 2009); Dublin’s Great Wars: The First World War, the Easter Rising and the Irish Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018); and Cork: The Irish Revolution, 1912-23 (Dublin: Four Courts Press. forthcoming, September 2026). He also edited At War with the 16th (Irish) Division, 1914-1918: The Staniforth Letters (Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2012) and The First World War Diary of Noël Drury, 6th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, from Gallipoli to Salonika, the Middle East and the Western Front (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press for the Army Records Society, 2022). With Fearghal McGarry, he co-edited Remembering 1916: The Easter Rising, the Somme and the Politics of Memory in Ireland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016). During the First World War Centenary and wider Decade of Commemoration, he took part in many public history projects including being a co-investigator at the AHRC engagement centre led by Queen's University, Belfast.

    Richard was born and brought up in Hemel Hempstead, where he now lives. His BA in English and American History was at the University of East Anglia, followed by a DPhil in Modern History at the University of Oxford (The Queen’s College). After teaching at UEA, Oxford, Buckingham and the Open University, he worked outside academia in 1998-2004. He was the first Director of the Centre for Reform think tank (now the Education Policy Institute) in 1998-9, followed by being Director of Policy of the Liberal Democrats in 1999-2004 (and also being Charles Kennedy’s principal speechwriter in 1999-2001). During that time Richard carried out the research in the Netherlands, and co-authored (with Nick Clegg) the publication, which led to the introduction of the ‘pupil premium’ in schools in England, although after standing for Parliament in Hemel Hempstead in 2005 and 2010 he left the Liberal Democrats in 2013 and joined Labour.

    Outside academia, Richard runs the visually impaired cricket team for Hertfordshire, the Herts Comets. He is a season ticket holder for both Queens Park Rangers and the Northern Ireland men’s national team, and a member of the council of the National Trust.

    Web profiles

    Professional memberships

    • Fellow, Royal Historical Society