James has been working as Director of Engineering Policy and Impact since October 2022 and in September 2025 took on responsibility for the Member Operations as acting Director.
In these roles, James will be responsible to the Institution's Strategic Goals of Membership Development and Impact, as set out on the Our Strategy page on our website.
Before joining the Institution, James was a Senior Civil Servant in UK Government, most recently as Deputy Director in the International Science and Innovation Directorate at Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). In this position, he was responsible for developing the UK Government’s domestic and international science policy, including having direct ownership of policy on nuclear fusion and responsibility for Euratom Research & Training Science Programme negotiations with the EU.
Prior to this, James held a variety of roles in UK Government, working across a range of strategy, policy and delivery issues. These included leading the joint BEIS – HM Treasury Business Productivity Review on the firm-level actions businesses can take to improve performance, which resulted in the Help to Grow programmes.
He has sat on the governing councils of organisations such as CERN and the European Spallation Source, and worked to create the market for ultra-low emission vehicles within the Office for Low Emission Vehicles.
James read Earth Sciences at university, specialising on geochemistry and palaeoceanography. Outside work he spends time with his young family, occasionally escaping to the golf course.