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. Her work has appeared in international peer-reviewed journals including Marketing Theory, Consumption, Markets & Culture and Annals of Tourism Research.

Recognised as a rising star in socio-technical cybersecurity, Sophie has been awarded an Associate Fellowship by the The Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (RISCS), funded by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Sophie has been featured in various media outlets, including BBC Radio, ITV Granada, and The Big Issue. Read her latest piece on toxic online subcultures here.

Sophie is the Event Lead and Co-chair for the Cybernetic Culture Workshop 2025 - a premiere event 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 on how individuals and groups engage with web-based communication platforms for a variety of ideological reasons. Her work draws from theories on consumer identity-making and socio-historic patterning, exploring how extreme or subversive content on social media networks and ‘dark’ corners of the (clear) web can erode trust in expert systems and have wider moral, ethical, social implications. Sophie is further interested in identifying the ideological deadlocks of dissident political opinions and how these may inform policy interventions on curbing the spread of misinformation.