His primary research focuses on the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture in southwest Asia. Richter currently directs two major fieldwork projects in Jordan and Iran that investigate the relationship between climatic and cultural change during the transition from the late Paleolithic to the early Neolithic. He has a B.A. and M.Phil. in archaeology from the University of Wales, Lampeter, and he obtained his Ph.D. from the Institute of Archaeology at the University College London.