James Mittra

With an undergraduate background in Humanities and Social Science, followed by postgraduate work in sociology and science and technology studies (STS), I have developed interdisciplinary research interests around innovation in life sciences, with a specific focus on translational research, regulation, and risk-governance. I have been contributing to the development of new interdisciplinary methods and theories to better understand how ‘new biology’ is affecting the nature and process of health innovation and contributing to the global bioeconomy.

Through a series of related projects following my doctoral work on the impact of genetic knowledge on the life assurance industry, I explored the nature and practical implications of translational medicine and the changing organisation and management of health R&D . With colleagues in the Innogen Institute, I have developed novel methods for studying business models and value systems for new technologies that do not have a conventional route to market, particularly in the field of regenerative medicine and stratified medicine.

More recently I have been exploring the concept of value (economic and non-economic aspects) in health-related innovation; particularly in the context of interdisciplinary and translational research where the distinction between public and commercial, and relationship between laboratory and clinic, has become blurred. This was written up in my first monograph: The New Health Bioeconomy: R&D Policy and Innovation for the Twenty-first century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

In April 2016, I was honoured to spend a week visiting the College of the Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Rhode Island as part of its Distinguished Visiting International Scholar programme.

In 2018 I successfully completed the Edinburgh Teaching Award and became a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Authority (SFHEA)