James graduated St Mary’s University in 2013 with an honours degree in Sport Science. He took up his PhD research at Glasgow Caledonian later that year and is looking at the experiences of ageing participants in the Masters highland games. He is interested in understanding the identities of Masters athletes’ and how they navigate the ageing body through injury and illness, whilst trying to improve performance. One of his research interests is how these athletes engage with risk in the pursuit of physical performance. Alongside his academic pursuits, James has also represented Great Britain in athletics over 800m. As a junior, in 2010, he represented GB juniors at the Loughborough international before struggling with illness and injury for a few years. He made his senior GB debut in January 2015 at the Glasgow International Indoor meeting. Also in 2015 he placed 2nd at the British championships, before running 1.47.59 at the Birmingham Grand Prix to fulfil the selection criteria for the European Indoor Championships in Prague, Czech Republic.