Richard Stanton
Director
Biography and contact details for Richard Stanton
Professional background
With an MA in International Relations from Sussex University, Richard worked as a researcher on issues ranging from international development to local government finance. For nine years he was also an elected member of a city authority. Research for London boroughs in the 1990s led him to look at reception services for asylum seekers and then at wider migration issues.
From 2000 to 2008 he led work for the Mayor of London on immigration and asylum policy. Besides advising on immigration policy and its impact on London, Richard was responsible for developing a strategic approach to the integration of refugees and other migrants in Europe’s most diverse city.
Areas of expertise
- Preparing strategies for migrant integration at local level which engage communities, link services and coordinate agencies.
- Analysing data especially on population, employment and funding.
- Comparative international research.
- Policy work: analysis and development of migration and integration policy at all levels from local / national to EU.
Professional achievements
- Comparative study of systems for funding local capital investment (Joseph Rowntree Foundation 1996), helping to pave the way for steps by the UK Government to devolve more control over investment to local authorities.
- Destitution by Design report (2003) for Mayor of London on Section 55 – penalising ‘late’ asylum seekers – which fed into legal action establishing their right to state support.
- Led work to set up the Mayor’s Board for Refugee Integration in London (BRIL 2006), later the London Strategic Migration Partnership, and drafted London’s first integration strategy.
- Helped (2009-12) to develop peer review methodology for EU-funded networks IMPART and MIXITIES, enabling European public authorities and NGOs to work more effectively on migrant integration.
Other interests
Theatre and contemporary dance, poetry, cafés and hill-tops.