About
Richard is an experienced software developer and educational technologist with over two decades of experience.
Since 2007, he has worked with the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at the Open University, where he is a member of the Learning Technologies Team (LTT).
Richard began in IET as Lead Developer for the iSpot project—a citizen science initiative funded by the National Lottery, developed in partnership with IET and STEM, enabling users to identify plants and animals via a social network.
Since then, he has contributed to the development of technological solutions across a range of research projects within IET.
More recently, he served as Senior Educational Technology Developer on the ADMINS project—a chatbot designed to support students in disclosing their disability needs. The project featured a complex technology stack, including Azure infrastructure, TypeScript using MS Bot Framework SDK, MS Cognitive Services, and also OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
With the rise of AI, Richard has expanded his skill set to include prompt engineering and the development of AI-powered solutions using various APIs.
Richard’s technical expertise includes PHP, Laravel, InertiaJS, Vue.js, JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML, CSS/SASS, Node.js, SQL, Linux, Azure, Apache, and NGINX.
Outside of work, Richard enjoys running, climbing, and motorbike riding, which he fits in around family life.