Jim has a PhD in physics from the University of Tasmania and has worked primarily in the fields of radio astronomy and geodesy, with roles in research, operations and project management. He has extensive experience in managing large survey-oriented research programs from planning through to observations, data management, analysis and publication. Jim can provide assistance in developing techniques and strategies for efficient gathering of experimental data and software solutions for data organisation, management, analysis and visualisation

For the 10 years following the completion of his PhD, Jim worked  as a professional astronomer first in Japan at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science on the VLBI Space Observatory Programme mission (which involved the first orbiting radio telescope), then in Canberra conducting research in astronomy and supporting observations at NASA’s Deep Space Station at Tidbinbilla for CSIRO. 

From 2007 until 2017 he was Project Manager of the AuScope VLBI project at the University of Tasmania. This involved the construction and operation of a $7 million array of three radio telescopes in Australia (Hobart (Tas), Katherine (NT) and Yarragadee (WA)) designed specifically for geodesy.

Jim is currently working in several consultancy-based roles with a growing emphasis on applying his skills and experience obtained in astrophysics to environmental applications. This has included leading CallTrackers, an acoustics citizen science project operated by NatureTrackers, to find and monitor threatened species. He is also involved in the management of data for the NatureTrackers Where Where Wedgie citizen science project, monitoring the population of the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle. He has also been working on adapting radio astronomy techniques to passive acoustic wildlife monitoring. This has involved building audio data recorders and post-processing the data to obtain low noise spectrograms and signal direction measurements for species localisation and identification.