His specializes in African climate science and runs the African Climate research group.

Richard's research is concerned with the African climate systems, including climate change, the mechanisms leading to floods and drought and the way these characteristics of climate are represented in climate models. He has also worked extensively on aerosols, particularly so on dust storms in the central Sahara and in southern Africa. He has run major observational campaigns involving both ground observations and instrumented aircraft in North and southern Africa. He is primarily funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).