James is a lecturer in Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences at the University of Liverpool.
He is a microbiologist who has studied evolution in bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Current research uses experimental, genomics, and modelling approaches to investigate how ecology and evolution shape, and are shaped by, horizontal gene transfer in bacterial communities. He is particularly interested in using experimental evolution — replicate populations cultured under different treatments — to unpick the drivers of microbial evolution in complex environments.