James is an expert in jets and accretion physics, working on jet launching around accreting stellar-mass compact objects, both in Galactic X-ray binaries and in more distant tidal disruption events.  After completing his undergraduate degree and his PhD at the University of Oxford, he pursued his research career in the Netherlands and the USA before moving to Curtin University in 2010, where he now works as a Professor.  Since 2017, he has served as the Science Director at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy.