Business School Teaching Fellow featured on UK's Disability Power 100 List
Richard Cartwright, Principal Teaching Fellow in Accounting in the University of Southampton’s Business School, features amongst the most influential people in the UK with a disability.
Richard’s place on the The Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 List reflects his efforts to break down barriers, create waves and work hard to create a more inclusive world for everyone. The Trust is a charity helping to transform the lives of young people and adults across the UK and internationally
"It's an absolute honour to have made The Shaw Trust Disability Power List,” Richard enthused after meeting others who made the list during a launch event in London. “It was a great evening meeting some truly fantastic people!"
An award-winning lecturer at Southampton Business School, Richard is also a Chartered Accountant who serves as a Council Member for the Institute of Chartered Accounting in England and Wales (ICAEW).
His early career started at professional services firm KPMG but just two weeks into his graduate training career, Richard broke his neck in an accident. Although he experienced life-changing injuries, Richard returned to work part-time after nine months in hospital, restarting his graduate training programme a year later. His big break came in 2011 when he was seconded to the company's Department of Professional Practice to run training courses.
"I loved it,” Richard recalls. “For the first time I felt I could do my job as well as (or better than) my colleagues."
Having found his true vocation and wanting to teach full-time, Richard left KPMG and moved into higher education in 2012 as a Senior Accounting Lecturer at Solent University where he also helped found Team Solent Sharks Wheelchair Rugby Club.
In 2015, Richard joined Southampton Business School but throughout, he’s remained a passionate advocate for volunteering, espousing the benefits of putting your hand up and helping out. Volunteering has also helped his career flourish with extra-curricular activities being a significant contributor to his successful promotion to Principal Teaching Fellow in 2018, making him one of the youngest lecturers of his seniority in the UK.
“It has led to some weird and wonderful opportunities,” he explains, “from helping people to enjoy sport again sport, to helping shape government policy in education."
The 2018 Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 List was compiled by an independent judging panel after more than 700 nominations were received and considered. The panel was chaired by Kate Nash OBE, the world’s leading authority on ‘Networkology’ – the science behind the growth of workplace networks and resource groups. In 2007, she was awarded an OBE for services to disabled people and in 2013 was appointed Ambassador to Disability Rights UK.
The full Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 List can be found on www.disabilitypower100.com