James Mead received a Bachelor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering with Honors. Class I at The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia in 2012. He worked professionally as a Mechanical Engineering Consultant at Norman Disney and Young (2013). His PhD in nanoscale adhesion characterisation was confirmed at UQ in March 2019. He subsequently worked as a Post-doctoral Research Officer in The School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, as well as a Microscope Engineer at The Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis; both at UQ.

Since January 2020, he is working as a Research Associate at the Division Microrobotics and Control Engineering at the University of Oldenburg. His research focuses on nanoscale robotic automation, nanogranular tunnelling strain sensors, and the adhesive behaviour one-dimensional materials.