James Thompson is Professor of Applied Theatre at the University of Manchester. He has had senior university roles, most recently as Vice President for Social Responsibility. He was the founder and former Director of In Place of War researching and developing arts programmes in conflict zones. He has run theatre projects internationally, has written widely on applied theatre and socially-engaged arts and is currently Editor of RiDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance. His most recent books are Performance Affects (2009), Humanitarian Performance (2014) and edited with Amanda Stuart Fisher (2020) Performing Care. His new book Care Aesthetics was published in 2022 and he is currently leading a 3-year research project on art and care funded by the UK’s Art and Humanities Research Council.