Before CE, James completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, where he studied haematopoietic (blood) stem cells. During his PhD, James also founded an early-stage project called Alma, and secured seed funding to develop wearable biosensors to monitor female health. After publishing his work from his PhD, James switched focus to the start-up space, in particular the alternative protein industry. However, after participating in an alternative protein course by the Good Food Institute, he decided that he would make more of an impact by founding a charity. James went through the CE Incubation Program when he decided to join the CE research team.