Stuart James

Dr. Stuart James is an Assistant Professor in Visual Computing at Durham University's Department of Computer Science, with a research focus on Visual Reasoning and Spatial Reasoning. His work bridges 2D/3D scene understanding with applications in Cultural Heritage, Digital Humanities, and Assistive Technologies. Key projects include EU-funded initiatives RePAIR (FET), DCitizens (Twinning), and BoSS (Lighthouse). Previous roles include Researcher/PostDoc positions at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and University College London (UCL), where he earned his PhD in visual information retrieval for sketches from the University of Surrey.

• PhD in Visual Information Retrieval (University of Surrey, 2015)
• hBSc in Computer Science with Games Development (University of Hull, 2009)

Research interests span Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Human-Computer Interaction, and Robotics, with emphasis on Sketch-based Retrieval, Scene Graphs, Visual Question Answering, and Knowledge Retrieval & Reasoning. The VIViD research group at Durham drives innovations in neuro-symbolic reasoning for cultural analytics. Publications highlight trends in 3D scene understanding, cultural heritage digitization, and AI-driven storytelling frameworks.

Scientific accolades include:

• CVPR 2025 Outstanding Reviewer
• ICIAP 2019 Best Student Paper
• IPAS 2018 Best Paper

Current projects involve EU grants totaling €10.6 million across RePAIR, DCitizens, and BoSS. Collaborations include IIT (External Scientist), UCL (Honorary Associate), and ITI/LARSyS (International Collaborator). The lab recruits PhD students and organizes VISART workshops, while also advertising KTP Associate positions in Machine Learning for railway monitoring.