Jim has a BSc in social anthropology from the University of Sussex, an MSc in social work from the University of London, an MSc in social research, University of Surrey, and a PhD (transitions and pathways to living alone: changes in living arrangements amongst older people in late modernity) from Keele University.
Jim’s projects with The Young Foundation include: A comparsion of the residential strategies among the baby boomer generations in Paris and London, financed by the French Ministry Transport and Urban Planning, 2005-2008; Adaptations to housing and environment among older people – a comparison between England and France, financed by the French Ministry of Research, 2006-2008; Grandparenting (1999-2002) with Geoff Dench – the first national survey of the subject undertaken in Britain and one of the most extensive studies of three-generational family life carried out for several decades; MIRE: Forms of kinship solidarity: review of current European research (2002-2004), financed by the Mission Recherche Expérimentation (MIRE), a governmental research department within the French Ministry of Employment and Solidarity.
He has also collaborated with Keele University on diverse projects including extending working life (2006) and ‘Boomers and Beyond: Intergenerational consumption and the mature imagination, 2005-2007.
Based in Paris, he collaborates with the research department of the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse and the Institut National des Etudes Démographiques. He is a member of the Working Group on Intergenerational Transfers for the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.