James is a Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group at Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre at Munster Technology University, and Academic Collaborator at the SFI BiOrbic Bioeconomy Research Centre. James has been coordinator, lead PI and Co-PI on several EU and nationally-funded circular bioeconomy research projects. Nationally, James is coordinator of the Biorefinery Glas and INFORMBIO DAFM-funded research initiatives and is a member of the SFI Farm Zero C research team. At EU-level James was scientific coordinator Biobased Industries (BBI JU) ICT-BIOCHAIN initiative, and is PI and Co-PI on a number of current BBI JU and H2020 projects including BIOSWITCH, COOPID, agroBridges and BIO4AFRICA. James is part of the core programme development team and lecturer on the Postgrad degree programme Bioeconomy with Business. He is a member of the Expert Advisory Group to Ireland's National Bioeconomy Forum, and was on the Expert Panel for the Impact Assessment of Circular Biobased Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) successor programme to BBI JU under the Horizon Europe programme. Prior to joining MTU, James worked in the biorefinery industry since 2009 with the Technology Centre for Biorefining and Bioenergy, Sustainable Biopolymers and Cellulac Ltd and through projects including Bio-Eire, Future European League for Microalgal Energy (FUEL4ME) and Sustainable Polymers from Algae Sugars and Hydrocarbons (SPLASH).