Dr James Panton is Head of Politics and Housemaster at Magdalen College School, Oxford, and an Associate Lecturer in Philosophy with the Open University. He previously worked as an academic and researcher - lecturing Political Theory and Intellectual History at St John’s College, Hertford College, and Balliol College, and he was responsible for setting up the tutorial teaching training programme for graduate students in the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. James continues to teach politics, philosophy and intellectual history regularly for the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford.

James was a founder member of the pressure group The Manifesto Club which campaigns against the hyper regulation of everyday life, and he was instrumental in establishing the ProTest movement in defense of animal research at Oxford University. He is author of a number of journal articles and book chapters; co-editor of Science Versus Superstition: the Case for a New Scientific Enlightenment (2006); and he has contributed frequently to mainstream media, radio and television discussions on politics, rights and freedoms.