I’m Sam Gordon James and I’m a Research Associate with the Healthcare Ecosystems theme based at the University of Bristol. Alongside my work with the AI4CI Hub I am finishing my PhD in Digital Health and Care. My background is in mathematical modelling, and now in my PhD I have expanded to data science and human factors research. This work focuses on the technology used for managing Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), specifically exploring the role smartwatches could play within it.
During my academic career I have presented my work at the Jean Golding Institute 2024 Data Week, the Diabetes UK Tech and You Conference, and in Digital Health – Health and Wellbeing lectures. Additionally, I presented my paper “Chronic Care in a Life Transition: Challenges and Opportunities for Artificial Intelligence to Support Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes Moving to University” at the CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2023 in Hamburg and will be presenting my paper “Integrating Technology into Self-Management Ecosystems: Young Adults with Type 1 Diabetes in the UK using Smartwatches” at the 2025 edition in Yokohama.
What are you working on?
I conducted a longitudinal study with young adults with T1D, who used a smartwatch alongside their self-management. This study has produced the BrisT1D Dataset, a rich dataset that features both qualitative and quantitative data (in raw and processed states) and will soon be openly published on the University of Bristol Data Repository. This data was analysed for the CHI 2025 paper and was used in a Kaggle Competition I ran that challenged entrants to predict future blood glucose levels using wearable sensor and smartwatch data. 634 teams from around the world entered the competition.
What’s next?
I will be submitting my thesis in April, and I am now on the hunt for my next challenge. I have really enjoyed my time at the University of Bristol and AI4CI but feel ready to turn my attention to new opportunities within industry and innovation. I am interested in working within the data science and software sector and feel I offer a point of difference in my wider understanding of both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods, and my practical approach to research that has engaged a wide range of groups through user studies, publications and a data competition.
Who has influenced your academic journey the most?
My Master’s project supervisor, Prof. E. Wilson, encouraged me to be proactive and compose my own research question rather than selecting from the default list of projects. I ended up hacking my own continuous glucose monitoring sensors and decoding the data outputted by them to investigate the blood glucose prediction algorithms and the lag experienced by these sensors. His insights redefined how I thought about research and having a personal attachment to the project and its direction made me more invested in it. Over five years later, I’m still researching T1D because of that decision.
Can you recommend a paper you think we should read?
“Caring through Data: Attending to the Social and Emotional Experiences of Health Datafication” by Kaziunas et al. – This research really got me thinking about the wider impact of exposing people with chronic conditions to increasing quantities of data. It highlighted the need to update our perspectives on data and the role it can play in chronic condition management and makes me think about the role data plays in shifting the ownership of self-management from medical professionals to the individual.
What are your ‘Top Tips’ for early career researchers?
Write notes as you work. It sounds like a basic piece of advice but anyone working on a PhD will understand how full your head becomes with different thoughts and ideas. This goes for most aspects of work: that note in your code to remind yourself where you found this fix, to the justification of a decision made in study scoping. For me, doing this electronically helps me search back particular moments and subjects, but use whatever method makes most sense to you. I can’t count how many times I’ve found a small note about my thinking at the time that has triggered a wider memory that saved me during my write-ups.