Edward James is Professor of Medieval History at University College, Dublin.[1] He received a BA (Oxon) 1968; DPhil (Oxon) in 1975. He was a Lecturer, then College Lecturer, at the Department of Medieval History, University College Dublin from 1970-1978. He was a Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer at the Department of History, University of York, 1978-1995 as well as Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York from 1990-1995. He was Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading from 1995–2004 and was a Director of the Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, 1999-2001.
He has researched Late Roman and early medieval history; the history of the barbarians, particularly of the Franks; the writings of Gregory of Tours; and the history of science fiction, fantasy, and utopian literature. He is currently Professor of Medieval History, School of History, University College Dublin since 2004.
He is also a noted academic writer on science fiction, and was the editor of Foundation - The International Review of Science Fiction from 1986 - 2001. He won the Eaton Award for best critical work on science fiction for Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (1994). The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, which he edited with Farah Mendlesohn, won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Related Book,[2]