Education

University of Oxford, DPhil (PhD), Zoology

  • Christoper Welch Scholarship

    • The most competitive award within the Life and Medical Sciences at the University of Oxford. Awarded to one PhD student per year across the entire University.

      • Previous winners have included Nobel Laureates John Eccles, Peter Medawar, and Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of DNA fingerprinting.

  • Winner of the Best Speaker Award at the Society for Experimental Biology’s Annual Conference.

  • Winner of the Royal Geographic Society Gilchrist Award

  • Winner of the Scientific Exploration Society Explorer Award

    • Awarded annually to ‘inspirational leaders and scientific trailblazers who are organising expeditions that focus on discovery, research, and conservation.’

      • The Award is bestowed upon a handful of such individuals out of tens of thousands of applicants from around the globe.

University of Oxford, M.A., Biological Sciences

University of Oxford, B.A., Biological Sciences

  • First Class Honours

  • Winner of numerous Merton College academic prizes

St Olave’s School, Orpington

  • A-Levels: Biology (A*); Chemistry (A*); Mathematics (A*), Further Mathematics (A*)

Teaching experience

James has 10 years and more than a 1000 hours of private tutoring experience. He has taught English and Maths to struggling primary school students, verbal and non-verbal reasoning to students preparing for 11+ exams, GCSE Chemistry and Physics, A-Level Biology and Physics, and university-level Biology.

As a Tutor at the University of Oxford, James has delivered hundreds of hours of tutorials, classes, and seminars to undergraduates and postgraduates. As an interviewer for undergraduate Biology admissions at Oxford, he is intimately familiar with the requirements to successfully apply to Oxford and Cambridge to read Biology or Natural Sciences. He has employed these unique insights to help series of students win places on these courses at both universities.

James is enormously in demand among Nestor clients, and we are immensely privileged to have him working for the firm.

Specialisms

Independent Schools Admissions

  • Mathematics for 7+, 8+, 11+, 13+, and 16+

Subjects

  • Mathematics (7+, 8+, 11+, ISEB Pre-Test, 13+, Common Entrance, GCSE and IGCSE, IB, A-Level)

  • Non-Verbal Reasoning (7+, 8+, 11+, ISEB Pre-Test)

  • Verbal Reasoning (7+, 8+, 11+, ISEB Pre-Test)

  • Biology (Common Entrance, GCSE and IGCSE, IB, A-Level, Undergraduate, Postgraduate)

  • Physics (Common Entrance, GCSE and IGCSE, IB)

  • Chemistry (Common Entrance, GCSE and IGCSE, IB)

University Admissions

  • Oxford Biology Admissions and Interview Preparation

  • Cambridge Natural Biological Sciences Admissions and Interview Preparation

  • Oxford and Cambridge Life and Medical Sciences Postgraduate Admissions Support

  • UCAS Biology Personal Statement Support

James welcomes enquiries from students applying for postgraduate study in Life and Medical Sciences to any university around the world.

Extra-curricular interests

James is currently a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford, where he studies the problem of how to create a universal flu vaccine that will defend people against all influenza strains.

When he is not in the laboratory, he is often leading major expeditions in Papua New Guinea. The most recent of these resulted in him discovering tens of new species to science, and re-discovering a bizarre, egg-laying mammal, known as the beaked echidna, which had been thought to be extinct for 62 years. The BBC article about this remarkable discovery can be found here.

More prosaically, he enjoys playing all racquet sports, visiting art galleries, listening to classical music, writing for the New Statesman, and watching vintage films. He also has a predilection for the theatre and seriously good food.

Availability

James is available for in-person tuition in London and Oxford.

He is also available for online tuition.