James completed his PhD in 2014, jointly through the University of Cape Town and Vrije University Medical Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His PhD thesis evaluated the effectiveness of the South African Rugby Union’s nationwide injury prevention programme (BokSmart). James also completed a Masters in Health Economics at the University of Cape Town while doing his Postdoctoral Fellowships.

James has 72 peer-reviewed publications and received ~ £124k in research funding. James has received funding for research projects from World Rugby, South African Rugby Union and the Medical Research Council.