Dr James Millington is a broadly trained geographer and landscape ecologist with expertise in developing bespoke modelling tools to investigate spatial, ecological and socio-economic processes and their interactions.

He was appointed Lecturer in 2013, Senior Lecturer in 2017 and Reader in 2021. James is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a long-standing member of the International Association of Landscape Ecology (including as a committee member of the UK chapter), and a member of the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society. He is currently Associate Editor for Plant Ecology and Land journals.

Prior to starting his lectureship, James held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, also in the Department of Geography at King’s. Before this, James spent several years as a Visiting Postdoctoral Associate in the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability at Michigan State University. James received his PhD in Geography, an MSc in Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Management (with Distinction), and a BSc (Hons) in Geography (First class), all from King's College London.

Research

• Landscape change: farming, forestry and fire
• Wildfire-Environment-Society interactions
• Agent-based modelling of geographical systems
• Spatial modelling of ecological succession-disturbance dynamics 

James’ research examines landscapes and how they change, often by using computer models. More recently, his work has broadened in spatial extent to include continental- and even global-scale human impacts and interactions with wildfires, and the drivers and consequences of land use change.

James' research uses innovative methods combining simulation tools, such as agent-based models (ABMs), with qualitative and quantitative approaches to mediate between theory and data for the investigation of geographic phenomena. Much of James’ previous work has examined ecological processes and human-environment interactions to inform the sustainable management of multi-resource landscapes.

Found out more about James' research, including latest papers, code, presentations and posters at: https://landscapemodelling.net

Teaching

Undergraduate

James leads the Spatial Data Science Pathway and teaches on the following modules:

• 5SSG2046 Field Research in Physical Geography
• 5SSG2059 Foundations of Spatial Data Science
• 5SSG2060 Principles of Spatial Data Science
• 6SSG3077 Applications of Spatial Data Science

PhD supervision

James welcomes inquiries from excellent candidates wishing to pursue research that investigates:

• ecological processes and human-environment interactions in forest and agricultural landscapes;
• innovative uses of agent-based modelling to understand physical and/or social geographical systems.

Further details

See James' research profile