Deborah M. James Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Deborah M. James graduated as a Speech Scientist and Speech and Language Therapist from University College London, UK, in 1997. She completed her PhD in psychology at the Institute of Child Health, University College London, UK, in 2002. She studied the impact of cochlear implantation on the speech, language and literacy development of young deaf children. Her interest in predictors of developmental trajectories in children with speech language and communication needs was then developed in a series of case studies of children with visual impairment and William's Syndrome at Reading University. At Newcastle University, she began to develop her research profile to address rehabilitation design for children with speech, language and communication needs. In 2010, she was invited to take on the Lead Scientist role at the National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing at Nottingham University, UK, where she led clinical trials of family-centred interventions for children with hearing impairments using mixed methodologies and single-subject intervention design. The practical application of new knowledge created through research is what motivates Dr James' work, and she works closely with practice-based organisations in local authorities, charities, schools and health services. She is now developing her interest in family-centred interventions at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne.