Dr James Charles

Dr James Charles is a postdoc working on evolutionary morphology and biomechanics. He was a member of the University of Liverpool Prosper cohort in 2025.

We interviewed James about his career journey and experience with Prosper - read more below.

Role

Postdoctoral Researcher within the
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool.

Case study conducted

February 2026

What is your background as a postdoc?

I got my PhD in 2016 from the Royal Veterinary College and I’ve been a postdoc since then. My first postdoc position was at the University of Pittsburgh – that finished in 2018 and since then I’ve been at Liverpool save for a brief intermission, working on several projects relating to evolutionary morphology and biomechanics.

My current project is on dog gaits – looking at how variations in anatomy, shape and size across different dog breeds impacts how they move, and how these relationships might possibly inform e.g. health considerations. Basically, looking to get a better general understanding of how shape influences movement from a biomechanical perspective.

Why did you join the Prosper cohort?

I’ve been a postdoc for coming up to a decade now. During this period I’ve made several attempts to get a permanent academic post with no luck, and obviously they’re becoming a bit more rare now because of the challenges the sector is facing.

So Prosper appealed to me as a way of exploring options beyond academia for someone with my experience and skillset.

I’ve engaged with careers advice before but have always found it to be a bit too generic for me. My interests and specialisms (biomechanics, anatomy etc.) don’t neatly align with broad disciplinary definitions. I’m between fields almost – not quite biology, not quite engineering, somewhere in the middle. So I thought Prosper might be good for a more targeted form of career development, tailored to me.

How did you find the Prosper cohort?

I found it very enjoyable. It was a good chance to connect with a variety of postdocs from outside of my department – from different disciplines, backgrounds, parts of the campus etc. – which is something we don’t otherwise get the opportunity to do. It’s reassuring to know that there’s a lot of others in similar situations and facing similar challenges.

Which aspects of Prosper did you find most useful?

I found the career coaching very useful. We discussed my interests, what I might be interested in doing outside of academia, and how to better sell myself. It was really good for identifying what skills I have and how these could be applied to a myriad of different contexts elsewhere. I came out of it with a good list of sectors and things to follow up on.

The group coaching was also great. It’s a bit more like therapy, though perhaps this isn’t the right word. But having that group and space to do a lot of reflecting about what we’re good at – it was quite enjoyable and useful.

What are your future career plans?

My current position finishes in the summer of 2027. We’ve applied for a UKRI grant that would extend my employment here – so that’s the current aim. If that doesn’t work out, I’m considering a fellowship application, and also keeping an eye out for lecturer positions.

If none of this works out than at some point in the next couple of years I’ll start seriously looking at roles beyond academia, e.g. in bioengineering. While it’s not something I’m primarily focused on yet, Prosper was useful for identifying sectors to look at in this regard, where my skills and experience could translate well.

They do a lot of biomechanics stuff in sports science and sportwear design. There’s a lot of relevance to medical implant companies as well – I do a lot of medical imaging, e.g. MRIs etc., in my research. Then there’s the companies that make the equipment that we use in our labs – e.g. motion capture systems and electrodes which measure muscle activity.

Motion capture experience also has application in the creative arts, of course – in films, video games etc. These jobs typically require experience in collecting the data, which I have, but also processing it into animation and the software around this e.g. Blender, which I don’t – so this is something I’m looking to upskill on in my spare time.

There’s also stuff less directly related to my specialism for which my skills are applicable, should I fancy it. E.g. there’s always companies after data analysts, something most postdocs are quite good at.

If there’s one bit of advice you could give to a postdoc that was in the position you were in before you joined Prosper, what would it be?

You are more hireable than you think you are. A lot of postdocs think that they’re only really good at what they do, but you possess a wealth of transferable skills that would be welcomed in a wide range of professions.

Take the time to actually sit and think about what you’re good at, because it’s very easy to just forget about it until you don’t have a job anymore and you’re panicking. Even it’s just an hour a week – take the time to think about your skills and career options.