BASE Lab BASE LAB
  • Research
  • People
  • Publications
  • Articles
  • Opportunities
  • Contact
James Le Houx

James Le Houx

Principal Investigator · BASE Lab · Beamline Tinkerer

I lead the BASE Lab at the University of Greenwich, where we develop autonomous X-ray imaging platforms for materials science. I am a Faraday Institution / STFC Emerging Leader Fellow, based jointly at Greenwich and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

My research combines operando synchrotron experiments with AI and high-performance simulation. The current focus is on building self-driving microscopes that use physics-based digital twins to capture stochastic failure in batteries.

Experience

Senior Lecturer & BASE Lab Lead · University of Greenwich · 2025–present

Emerging Leader Fellow (£407k) · RAL / Faraday Institution · 2024–2027

Visiting Scientist · Diamond Light Source / University of Southampton · 2024–present

Beamline Scientist · Diamond Light Source / NXCT · 2023–2024

Postdoctoral Researcher · Diamond Light Source / Imperial College · 2021–2023

Postdoctoral Researcher, Ada Lovelace Centre · Diamond Light Source · 2021–2022

Design Engineer · Xtrac Ltd. (LMP1 motorsport) · 2014–2016

Education

PhD, Energy Storage and its Applications · University of Southampton · 2021

MEng, Mechanical Engineering (1st Class) · University of Southampton · 2016

Chartered Engineer (CEng) · IMechE · Member of RMS and ACS

Facility Access

Principal Investigator on 9 experiments (~£1.7M in-kind value) at Diamond, ISIS, and Sirius, including the UK Battery Imaging BAG. Co-Investigator on 22 further experiments.

Invited to commission flagship instruments internationally: first external user of the MOGNO beamline (Sirius, Brazil), second external user of the dark-field X-ray microscope (ID03, ESRF), and second external user of the high-resolution neutron imaging beamline (PorTo, ILL).

Funding

  • Faraday Institution / STFC Emerging Leader Fellowship — £407k (2024–2027)
  • STFC Ada Lovelace Centre Grant (CANVAS-nxTOMO) — £147k (2021–2022)
  • Faraday Undergraduate Summer Experience (FUSE) — PI (2025)

Strategy & Policy

  • Lead author, Faraday Focus ten-year research strategy for UK National Facilities (Diamond, ISIS, CLF)
  • Lead, STFC / Faraday / Google taskforce on emerging AI research capabilities
  • Advisor to DSIT on AI data standards for materials science
  • Selected by Stanford / SLAC as one of 30 UK leaders for US-UK energy storage initiative
  • Member, ISIS Science Council, advising on science direction for the £100M spallation source
  • Invited reviewer for €7.5M ERC Synergy Grant
  • Secretary, Diamond Light Source Imaging Peer Review Panel (2021–2024)
  • Committee Member, Faraday Institution ECR group; Scientific Programme Board Member

Teaching & Public Engagement

  • Conceived and lead the Faraday Institution Masterclass series — national curriculum on advanced characterisation, 1000+ attendees
  • Session Chair, ACS National Meeting; Co-chair, IBSIM-4i (IoP) and Microscience Microscopy Congress (RMS)
Back to top

© 2025 BASE Lab · Made with Quarto

  • Accessibility

  • License

  • · Design inspired by Silvia Canelón