Colin Richardson

Dr Colin Richardson OBE PhD PGCert SFHEA

Assistant Professor in Business Information Systems and Data Analytics

Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE): Dr Richardson was appointed OBE in His Majesty The King’s Birthday Honours 2026 for services to fire service operations and firefighter safety.

Overview

Dr Colin Richardson OBE PhD PGCert SFHEA is an Assistant Professor in Data Analytics at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, where he has worked since 2021. He is a ‘pracademic’, bridging over three decades of senior industry experience with rigorous academic scholarship. His work is grounded in a belief that data, technology, and people working together can deliver meaningful real-world impact, a commitment recognised by his appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours 2026, for services to fire service operations and firefighter safety.

Dr Richardson’s research focuses on decision-making in complex organisations, knowledge management, predictive analytics, and AI/ML applications in emergency service and industrial contexts. His work with fire services has led to the development of data-driven frameworks for predicting hostile environments before fire crews are deployed, directly informing operational practice and firefighter safety strategies.

He holds a PhD in Knowledge Management and Knowledge Acquisition Techniques from Northumbria University, a Senior Fellowship of Advance HE (SFHEA), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice. He was previously awarded Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS CITP), a designation that reflects his longstanding professional standing in computing and information systems.

Research Interests

Dr Richardson’s research agenda spans decision-making under uncertainty, knowledge management in complex organisations, predictive analytics for emergency services, AI/ML applications in organisational contexts, digital transformation, Industry 5.0, supply chain analytics and organisational resilience. A unifying theme across his work is the application of computational and data-driven methods to problems with direct societal consequences, particularly in frontline emergency service settings.

Selected Publications

Dr Richardson has published in and contributed to a range of peer-reviewed journals. His published and in-press works include:

Richardson, C. (2025). Understanding and Mitigating Hostility Towards Firefighters: A Case Study of Attacks on a UK Fire Service. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105589

Richardson, C.M. (2026). Human-Centric Automation to Intelligent Information Integration: A Mixed-Methods Framework for Industry 5.0 Manufacturing. Journal of Industrial Information Integration.

Richardson, C.M. (2026). Beyond absorptive capacity: A knowledge flexibility framework for complex organizations. Journal of Knowledge Management.

Research Funding

Dr Richardson has secured competitive external research funding as Principal and Co-Investigator, with grants awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), and NHS Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management.

Teaching and Educational Leadership

Dr Richardson is Programme Lead for the BSc (Hons) Business Analytics and leads modules in data analytics and visualisation, consultancy and analytics and project management. His pedagogical approach centres on experiential, industry-informed learning. He pioneered an annual international hackathon series with external business partners and partner universities in Germany, Mexico, and the USA.

He was awarded the Northumbria Distinguished Teaching Fellowship in 2025 and has been consistently nominated for Student-Led Teaching Awards and Teaching Innovation Awards. As Operations Subject Group Outreach Lead, he has engaged with students and teachers across regional institutions.

Professional Background

Dr Richardson’s connection with the fire service dates to the 1990s, when he developed real-time incident reporting, GPS appliance tracking, and electronic management of hazardous substances as part of a technology services team. This early work helped modernise day-to-day fire service operations and laid the foundation for his subsequent research into frontline safety.

Before entering academia, he held senior leadership roles in data and digital transformation across sectors including (Northumbrian Water Group), pharmaceuticals (Merck KGaA / Millipore) In 2019 he was awarded the Institute of Asset Management Best International Innovation award for developing an AI/ML system for large-scale data enrichment.

External Roles and Service

Dr Richardson has served as External Examiner at the University of South Wales and the University of Huddersfield, and as a peer reviewer for the European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), Information Systems Research (ISR), and the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS). He also serves as an ESRC funding reviewer and continues to engage with fire service organisations as an invited speaker at senior leadership and regional events.