Dr Sophie James

Lecturer in Security and Protection Science

Research Overview

Dr. Sophie James is a Lecturer in Security and Protection Science with the Department of Marketing at Lancaster University Management School and a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA). Her work has appeared in international peer-reviewed journals including Marketing Theory, Consumption, Markets & Culture and Annals of Tourism Research.

Her research and expertise have featured across a range of media outlets, including BBC Radio, ITV Granada, The Conversation, The Big Issue and The Independent.

Sophie was awarded an Associate Fellowship by the Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (RISCS), funded by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Alongside this, she serves as Event Lead and Co-chair of the Cybernetic Culture Workshop - a major interdisciplinary event delivered in collaboration with the Centre for Consumption Insights (CCI), Security Lancaster, and the RISCS.

Sophie's work relates to digital anthropology, providing important contextualisation for digital transformation, socio-digital futures, and security challenges. Her research strives to provide in-depth insights into how individuals and groups engage with web-based communication platforms for a variety of ideological reasons. Her work draws on theories of consumer identity-making and socio-historic patterning, exploring how extreme or subversive content on social media networks can erode trust in expert systems and have wider moral, ethical and social implications.

Qualifications

Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Marketing (by Publication)
BA (Hons) in Marketing Communications: First Class Honours
MSc in Marketing, Durham University: Distinction

External Roles

Associate Fellow for the Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (RISCS) funded by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)

Member of The Extreme Right Research Network (ERRN)

Current Teaching

Sophie is a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA) with experience in research-led teaching across marketing, consumer behaviour and digital culture. Her approach is informed by critical and cultural perspectives, with particular interests in marketing communications, digital and social media, consumer culture, emerging technologies and the social dimensions of cybersecurity.

She encourages students to look beyond marketing as a set of managerial tools and to examine how communications, platforms, brands and technologies both shape and are shaped by culture, identity, communities and wider social contexts.

Her contribution to education practice was recognised by the British Academy of Management Education Practice Award 2022, for which she was Highly Commended.

Module Leadership, Department of Marketing