Richard T. Griffiths is Emeritus Professor of Economic and Social History and Professor of International Studies at Leiden University. He has also taught at Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), Renmin University (Beijing) and Victoria University (Canada). His main research interests have been in economic development, development assistance and the history of European integration. In 2016 he was awarded Coursera's inaugural Outstanding Educator Award for Innovation

Before joining LeidenUniversity, Griffiths had been professor of Contemporary History at the European University Institute (Florence) where he directed the permanent research project of European integration history, professor economic history at the Free University (Amsterdam) and assistant professor of European Studies at Manchester University. He graduated in Economic History and Russian Studies at Swansea University and obtained his PhD from Cambridge University for a thesis on the industrial retardation of the Netherlands in the first half on the nineteenth century.

He recently won the Coursera Outstanding Educator Award for Innovation during the annual Coursera Partner Conference on March, 2016.