About Me

Introduction

Hello! My name is James. I was born and raised in the United Kingdom, and went to school in Yorkshire in the north of England. Since I was young, I have had a keen interest in languages as well as computers, which eventually led me to study linguistics as a mature student, and eventually learn more about programming and statistics as part of my studies. I have been living in Hong Kong for many years now after originally visiting for an exchange programme during my undergraduate degree, and I have recently completed my PhD.

These days, my main area of interest within linguistics is embodied cognition, which tries to explain the way that we understand the world and use language via our interaction with our surroundings. It involves work on sensory perception, conceptual metaphors, and image schematics. As well as embodied cognition, I also work on other studies related to psycholinguistics and language cognition.

Me at the 2019 CogSci conference in Montreal.

Hobbies and Interests

Video Games

Since I was young, I have had a love of video games and computers, and I still love playing the old games I played when I was younger.

Some of my favourite retro games include: Bubble Bobble, Lemmings, Super Mario, and Plok! I am planning to have a go at programming my own retro style game at some point soon.

Bubble Bobble: One of my favourite games.

Football

I am also a big football fan and I have supported West Ham United since I was a boy. I regulary watch games with other supporters and arrange local events in Hong Kong. I also like to play football when I have the chance, and I played for a local team for some years.

In the summer of 2023, West Ham won a major trophy (The Europa Conference League) for the first time in over 40 years.

A replica trophy I made for an event.

Computers and Programming

I also love playing and working with computers, including front-end and back-end programming, and some hardware and electronics. I love working with the Raspberry Pi, and I have used them for making small desktop computers, TV streaming software, gaming, and hosting my own web server.

I am also working on some other small smart home projects, including an air conditioner controller that I can access remotely, which should hopefully be very useful in the humidity of Hong Kong!

A work in progress with the Pi3b.