Professor Richard Follett
Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement)
Office of Vice-Chancellor and Senior Executive
Richard Follett is Vice President and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Global) at the University of Exeter. He is also Professor of American History and a specialist on the history of slavery and emancipation in the United States. Richard enjoys a strong international reputation for his scholarship and public engagement work. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistSoc) and joined the University of Exeter in 2023.
Biography:
Brought up in Bangor, Wales and Bristol, England (with spells in the United States), Follett attended the University of Wales, Swansea and the University of Illinois for his BA degree. He obtained an MA from the University of London in 1991. Richard was a Fulbright Scholar (1991-93) and secured his doctoral degree on the history of American slavery from Louisiana State University in 1997. He is a die-hard LSU alum!
From 1997-1999, Follett was on the faculty at the National University of Ireland, Galway before joining the University of Sussex where he taught between 1999 and 2022. Richard was appointed to a Professorial Chair in 2011.
Follett held senior faculty and university leadership positions including, Head of Department before leading the Education and Student Experience portfolio in his Faculty. He was appointed University Director of International Recruitment and Development (2015-17) and finally Associate Vice President (International) where he led Sussex's international portfolio from 2019 to 2022. In January 2023, Follett joined the University of Exeter as Vice President (Global).
Richard has worked in more than three dozen countries, lived in the USA and Spain (for extensive periods) and speaks Spanish fluently, Portuguese badly, and is attempting to learn Mandarin. He has held visiting teaching and research appointments at the University of Lagos (Nigeria); Nanjing and Peking Universities (China), University of Heidelberg (Germany), and at University College London. Richard currently serves as an editorial consultant to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Over the past five years, Richard has held multiple leadership roles for the UK higher-education sector, including Chair of Universities UK Africa and Middle East Network (2021-24); Board Member, International Strategic Advisory Board, Universities UK (2021-23); Board Member, Universities UK – UKRI – Horizon Europe Senior Advisory Group (2022-23); Board Member and Global Partnerships Lead, Association of Commonwealth Universities Higher Education & SDG Network (2021-); and Member, Pro Vice Chancellor (International) Network, Universities UK International.
Research supervision:
Owing to extensive university-wide commitments, I am not able to lead supervise doctoral students at this moment. I would be happy to co-supervise in U.S. History, Caribbean and Latin American history and in Atlantic History.
