James is the Chief Executive of the UK Research Integrity Office. Joining UKRIO in 2006, he took up his current role in 2008, overseeing UKRIO’s transition to a registered charity supported by over 110 research organisations.

He directs UKRIO’s work programme and leads its advisory service, responding to queries and concerns about research practice from researchers and the public. He helped develop UKRIO’s Code of Practice for Research and other publications, used by many leading research organisations.

James works with UKRIO’s subscribers to provide them with tailored support on research practice. He regularly speaks on how to sustain and enhance good research practice and research culture & systems; audiences have included the Royal Society, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the UK National Research Integrity Forum, the Irish National Forum on Research Integrity, and the World Conference on Research Integrity.

James has collaborated in numerous initiatives to support research integrity. He contributed to the Royal Society-UKRIO project Integrity in Practice, a tool kit examining ways to effect positive change to research culture, and is an Observer on the Concordat Signatories Group, helping with the ongoing development of the UK Concordat to Support Research Integrity. James is currently participating in a number of high-level reviews and initiatives exploring improvements to the UK’s research integrity landscape and has been called to give evidence to multiple Parliamentary inquiries into research integrity.

Prior to joining UKRIO, James worked as an archaeologist and a university administrator. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2023.