James holds an MSci in Mathematics and a PhD in Applied Mathematics, both attained at the University of Birmingham.

His thesis and associated research activity (supervised by Prof Rosemary Dyson and Prof David Smith) focused on the use of mathematical modelling to investigate complicated biological phenomena such as the growth of pollen tubes in seed plants. This involved the development of a novel method of solving axisymmetric Stokes flow problems, implemented numerically via MATLAB.

Following the completion of his PhD, James spent almost four years as a Software Developer on the Oasys LS-DYNA team at Arup. Here he worked on the development of desktop applications for Windows and Linux systems using C++ and Qt, while also dabbling in C, Fortran, and TypeScript. During this time, he was also involved in research into Green Software initiatives and contributed to several UK / Midlands projects investigating how best to incorporate the UN SDGs into work in the digital space.

James returned to the University in June 2023 specifically to join the growing Research Software Group.

As a manager, he is committed to building resilient teams capable of producing high-quality research software and promoting the vital role of RSEs in academia (in alignment with the Software Sustainability Institute manifesto).

As a software developer, he retains a preference for statically typed programming languages and immutable data.