Professor James Derbyshire's career has seen him work in higher education, private-sector consulting and for government. Prior to joining University of Chester in 2023 he worked for eight years as a Senior Research Fellow at Middlesex University in a role that combined publishing academic journal papers, leading consulting projects for government, and leading grant bids and projects. He has also worked at Anglia Ruskin University (Research Fellow), at RAND Corporation (Senior Analyst on the Innovation & Technology Policy team), at Cambridge Econometrics (Senior Economist), at the European Commission (in what was DG Enterprise & Industry), and at the technology consultancy Capgemini (Analyst). Professor James Derbyshire has successfully secured external funding and has published widely in journals such as Risk Analysis, International Journal of Forecasting, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Technovation, Business History, Environment & Planning A, European Management Review, Applied Economics, Ecological Economics, Futures & Foresight Science, Futures, Local Economy and Journal of Business Venturing Insights.