Richard Thomas Griffiths a noted academic and author in the history of European integration began his university studies at University College Swansea where he graduated with a BSc (Econ) with first Class Honours in Economic History and Russian Studies. He obtained a PhD instead from Cambridge University in 1977. His first employment was as a lecturer in European Studies at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology where he taught 20th century European economic history, including that of the European Community. In 1980 he became Professor of Economic and Social History at the Free University, Amsterdam a position he held until 1987 he was appointed Professor of Contemporary History at the European University Institute, Florence, where he directed the EUI’s permanent research project on European integration history. These years in Amsterdam and Florence witnessed his most prolific output of studies on European integration, which he interpreted broadly to include developments outside the initiatives of ‘the Six’, including EFTA and the OEEC. On leaving the EUI in 1995, he became professor of Economic and Social History at Leiden University where he widened his research to include publications on development studies and small state studies, and more contemporary issues of European integration. Within the Humanities department he created a minor programme and an MA degree in European Union Studies. He regularly taught in the European Studies MA at Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) and he also was the lead academic in creating the ‘Silk Road; European Studies Centre in Western China. After his retirement in 2016 he worked with the Leiden University’s Centre for Innovation in developing Massive Open Onlline Courses and started writing on China's Belt and Road Initiative. In 2018 he became a fellow with the International Institute of Asian studies, where he directs its ‘New Silk Road’ research project.