Historian Richard Griffiths

Griffiths was born on 7 April 1948 in Isleworth, United Kingdom. He studied economic history and Russian studies at University College, Swansea and graduated with first class honours in 1970. He was a postgraduate student at Jesus College, Cambridge.^{[citation needed]} In 1977 he received his PhD from the University of Cambridge with a thesis titled: "Industrial retardation in the Netherlands 1830-1850".

He was appointed lecturer in European Studies at the University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology (now part of Manchester University) in 1973. From 1980 to 1987 he was professor of Social and Economic History at the Free University, Amsterdam. From 1987 to 1995 he held the chair in Contemporary History at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence where he directed its research project into the History of European Integration. In 1995 he became Professor of Economic and Social History at Leiden University where he also set up the MA in European Union Studies. He is currently director of the BA in International Studies, taught at the university’s campus in the Hague. He has been visiting professor at Leuven University (Belgium), Evora University (Portugal), Istanbul Bilgi University (Istanbul, Turkey) and Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand).