“Life as Action Research”. Interview with Richard Ennals by Miren Larrea and Danilo Streck

Abstract

About Richard Ennals Richard Ennals was educated at King’s College School Wimbledon, Phillips Academy Massachusetts, King’s College Cambridge, London University Institute of Education, and Imperial College of Science and Technology. Richard taught History in the UK and Nigeria, before becoming a researcher and then research manager in Advanced Information Technology, at Imperial College and in the UK Government Department of Trade and Industry. He resigned his posts in December 1985, when the UKGovernment signed a secret Memorandum of Understanding to participate in the American Strategic Defense Initiative, thus endangering the research he was managing. He joined a successful campaign to prevent UK involvement. Richard moved to Kingston College, then to Kingston University, where he was Professor at Kingston Business School from 1990. His research was based on collaboration in Sweden (National Institute for Working Life and Royal Institute of Technology) and Norway (Work Research Institute and Centre for Senior Policy), and on working with the European Commission. In the UK in 1997 he was co-founder of the UK Work Organisation Network. Richard has been Emeritus Professor at Kingston University since 2013. He currently has part-time Professorial posts at the University of Agder (Norway) and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has Visiting Professorial posts at Mykolas Romeris University and Kazimieras Simonavicaius University (Lithuania), where he has an Honorary Doctorate, as well as engaging in research with Kathmandu University (Nepal), Sabanci University (Turkey) and the University of Cape Town (South Africa). The common themes are participation and empowerment. He is an Editor of the International Journal of Action Research and Editor in Chief of the European Journal of Workplace Innovation. He is author or editor of numerous books, on Education, Information Technology, Working Life and Innovation. For example: Beginning micro-PROLOG. Ellis Horwood, Chichester 1983. Star Wars: A Question of Initiative. Wiley, Chichester 1986. Artificial Intelligence State of the Art Report (Editor). Pergamon Infotech, London 1987. Work Organisation and Europe as a Development Coalition. (with Bjorn Gustavsen). Benjamin, Amsterdam 1999. Work Life 2000: Yearbooks 1, 2, 3. Springer, London, 1999, 2000, 2001. Dialogue, Skill and Tacit Knowledge. (Edited with Bo Goranzon and Maria Hammaren). Wiley, Chichester 2006. From Slavery to Citizenship. Wiley, Chichester 2007. Learning together for local innovation: promoting learning regions. (Edited with Bjorn Gustavsen and Barry Nyhan). Cedefop, Luxembourg 2007. Creating Collaborative Advantage: Innovation and Knowledge Creation in Regional Economies. (Edited with Hans Christian Garmann Johnsen). Gower, Farnham 2012. Coping with the Future: Rethinking Assumptions for Society, Business and Work. (Edited with Hans Christian Garmann Johnsen and Halvor Holtskog). Routledge, London 2018.