Richards is an anthropological commentator and researcher on agricultural technology and African farming systems. Initially trained in human geography (BSc Queen Mary University of London, 1963–1966) and African Studies (MA SOAS, 1966-1967), he taught in Ibadan, Nigeria before completing a PhD in geography and specialising in Sierra Leone (PhD London, 1973–1977). He has worked in Sierra Leone for over forty years, conducting ethnographic studies of Mende village rice farming systems and forest conservation on the Liberian border. After the region became affected by the Sierra Leonean civil war (1992-2002), he turned to analysis of that conflict and has written more widely on the anthropology of armed conflicts, and the Ebola crisis.