Paul Richter
Research Associate

  • Email: paul.richter@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 2081696
  • Address: Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Enterprise (KITE)Newcastle University Business School
    5 Barrack Road
    Newcastle Upon Tyne
    NE1 4SE

Introduction

Paul is a Research Associate based in the Centre for Knowledge Innovation, Technology and Enterprise (KITE)

Background

Paul has performed a variety of teaching and research roles at educational institutions since 1999.

Qualifications

• MSc. Social Science Research Methods
• BA (Hons) First Class Honours
• Newcastle University Postgraduate Research Training Programme
• ‘An Introduction to Teaching & Learning in HE’ (leading to Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice) (Newcastle University)
• Newcastle University HaSS Faculty ‘Preparing to Teach’ programme
• UCLES CELTA (Certificate in English language teaching to adults)
• City & Guilds 7307 (stages I & II) Further & Adult Education Teachers’ Certificate

Previous Positions

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY
• Associate Lecturer
• Module Coordinator/Tutor: 'Social Science in Action Investigating The Information Society'

THE NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
• Lecturer: 'Postgraduate Certificate: Social Sciences Research Methods - Qualitative & Quantitative Methods' and 'Research & Presentation Skills'
• Lecturer: BSc.Criminology - Research Methods

CHESTER SCHOOL OF ENGLISH, MADRID
EFL Teacher: General & Business English

NATIONAL CENTRE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
Interviewer

Languages

Spanish and German - intermediate spoken and written

Research Interests

Paul's research interests centre on the relationship between organisational change, technology, and identity and the function of language and materiality in shaping those phenomena. I have predominantly explored these issues in the context of trends in the delivery of public services and change in higher education. More recently, my empirical concerns have extended to small firm and entrepreneurial behaviour in hi-growth sectors.

 

Current Work

Paul is a Co-Investigator on a recently awarded ESRC funded project (£234K) in conjunction with Newcastle University colleagues, Dr. Simon Down and Dr. Jane Pollard, and Prof. Monder Ram OBE, De Montfort University. The study will adopt a longitudinal, multi-method framework to explore how small firms understand and respond over time to different forms of regulation in contrasting sectoral (bio-processing, film and media and security) and geographic contexts.

As part of a small PSI-based research team, Paul has won a series of funding awards (£50K) from Newcastle University to carry out research into various aspects of the HE students' experience. These studies have included researching the factors underpinning student satisfaction and an investigation of students' experience of learning resources and spaces. Most recently, Paul has been awarded funding to explore notions of 'student enagagement' among undergraduates and to map teaching opportunities for PGR students. These investigations form a valuable empirical base for generating theoretical contributions to debates around the shifting HE landscape and student and institutional identities.

This work builds on a number of projects Paul worked on earlier in his research career investigating different dimensions of ICT deployment in HE settings. These included a study into the deployment, use and identity implications of a set of newly-developed student relationship management systems. Funded by the host university, this research project sought to generate useful knowledge for the university management and to develop PSI's research agenda around the deployment/exploitation of ICTs in a HE setting.

Paul is also currently PI on a project that seeks to carry out an independent assessment of the impact of key Staff Development Unit (Newcastle University) programmes. This includes gauging the impact on programme participants of attending/pursuing the development activities – for example on their professional identities, motivation, engagement, or research approaches – as well as getting an indication of an ultimate impact on the student experience. An important by-product of this approach will be to identify strengths and weaknesses in the programme and thus prioritise areas for development.

During 2010, Paul was a researcher on an EU-funded (FP6 IST programme) international, multi-disciplinary project developing e-services for older people.

Also during 2010, Paul was a Co-Investigator on a research project funded by The North East Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (NE-IEP) investigating information governance and management across the north east region. The project aimed to measure information governance structures and processes across the region to highlight and assess the levels and types of approaches and identify priorities, gaps and opportunities for building regional capacity.

In 2009, Paul was the PI on an exploratory project funded by Newcastle University's HaSS Faculty Research Fund entitled 'Shared Services and Higher Education sector transformation: Processes and Outcomes'. It aimed to develop a social science perspective on shared services in order to critically question their implications for higher education and to develop research capacity in relation to shared services.

In 2009, Paul and PSI colleague Rob Wilson won an Innovation award from the University's Teaching & Learning Committee to carry out a study entitled 'Developing the teaching of Research Methods: Students as researchers and co-producers of knowledge into ‘Student Satisfaction’. The study's aims were threefold: 1. to develop a more participative and engaging approach to the delivery of social science research methods teaching that has pedagogic benefits for the wider academic community. 2. to develop an existing KITE research agenda around the themes of innovation and enterprise in higher education. 3. to supplement the University’s strategic management information gathering processes at school, faculty and university-wide levels in respect of students’ expectations, concerns, and satisfaction.

Paul was recently part of a small research team exploring university staff attitudes to workspace in the light of a relocation project involving a transition from cellular to open-plan accommodation. Funded by the host university, this research sought to inform future managerial decision-making around workspace for teaching and research activities. It was also helpful in developing further funding proposals and academic publications looking at the relationship between academic identities and work settings - an ESRC funding proposal was submitted following this study.

And Paul is working towards a PhD, Management at Newcastle University's Business School. His study, primarily involving qualitative data collection, is employing a narrative approach to organisation and technology and is primarily concerned with how concepts associated with ‘customer-focus’ are being realized in UK local government service delivery via processes of organizational restructuring, technological implementation, and narrative re-ordering. It is also concerned to explore the implications of these changes for notions of citizenship.

Research Roles

Paul is a member of the Centre for Knowledge Innovation, Technology and Enterprise (KITE)

Postgraduate Supervision

Paul is a doctoral supervisor and has supervised many Masters business students over the past 3 years.

Esteem Indicators

Academic Referee for ESRC grant applications

Reviewer of Pearson Education textbooks

Reviewer for:
Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations
E-Commerce Research and Applications
Electronic Commerce Research
and British Academy of Management and European Conference on Information Systems conference contributions

Guest lecturer addressing senior public servants studying the University of Ulster’s MSc.Innovation Management in the Public Service

Guest workshop facilitator: Hosted staff development workshop (Southampton Solent University) examining institutional approaches to acting on NSS data (December 2011)

Delivered seminar (Research and practice of student engagement and research-informed teaching) as part of Newcastle University's Quality in Teaching & Learning seminar series (December 2011)

Fully trained in NVivo 8 

Funding

  • ESRC - Small firm regulation £234K
  • North East Improvement and Efficiency Partnership £80K
  • Newcastle University Student Opinion Working Group (multiple funding awards) £50K
  • newcastle University Staff Development Unit £9K
  • Newcastle University HaSS Faculty Research Fund £4K
  • Newcastle University Teaching & Learning Committee Innovation Award £5K
  • EPSRC - PhD studies

Projects