Nikki James is an Assistant Teaching Professor and Assistant Group Chair in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group at Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business, where she also serves as Concentration Coordinator for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Her research examines how emerging technologies and experiential learning models support the development of social innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in low-resource settings, and how learning systems can be designed to cultivate ethical, globally minded changemakers. She is a two-time nominee for the Northeastern Global Educator Award (2024 and 2025) and a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs.
Before joining Northeastern, James developed and facilitated programs globally on innovation, social entrepreneurship, and leadership for practitioners, undergraduate, and graduate students, designing and delivering experiential learning initiatives in Australia, the United States, South Africa, Tanzania, and China. She is the Founder of ResponseAble Investments, an impact investing firm based in South Africa, where she coaches social entrepreneurs and provides impact-investing capital to fund sustainable growth.
Selected publications
- James, N., & Moloto, M. (Revise & Resubmit). From Learning Extraction to a Self-Sustaining Learning System: Design Principles for Mutually Beneficial Experiential Social Entrepreneurship Education. Resubmitted following invitation to revise and resubmit.
- James, N. (Under Review). Investible Social Impact: Hybrid Organizing, Elimination-by-Aspect, and the Social Enterprise Screening Problem.
- James, N. (2021). Learning Analytics to Support Experiential Learning. Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education, 3(3), 24–31.
- James, N., Humez, A., & Laufenberg, P. (2020). Using Technology to Structure and Scaffold Real World Experiential Learning in Distance Education. TechTrends, 64, 636–645.
- James, N. (2021). Technology-enabled categorisation of learners for improved support in experiential learning [Doctoral dissertation, The University of Liverpool].
- Papendieck, A., Tierney, G., Nguyen, K., & James, N. (2024). Unpacking Paradox in Co-Design. Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2024), 1718–1721.
Selected presentations
- James, N. (2026). Investible Social Impact: Hybrid Organizing, Elimination-by-Aspect, and the Social Enterprise Screening Problem [Conference Presentation]. Impact Investing Days, Madrid, Spain.
- James, N. (2026). Investible Social Impact: Hybrid Organizing, Elimination-by-Aspect, and the Social Enterprise Screening Problem [Conference Presentation]. Social Entrepreneurship Summit 2026, Rome, Italy.
- James, N. (2026). Examining the intrapersonal barriers to entrepreneurship for nascent female entrepreneurs [Conference Presentation]. CEEC Entrepreneurship Research and Pedagogy Conference, San Diego, USA.
- James, N. (2024). Global Perspectives in Entrepreneurship Education [Conference Presentation]. CEEC Entrepreneurship Research and Pedagogy Conference, San Diego, USA.
- Jona, K., & James, N. (2021). Introducing outside experts into the classroom activity system in a work-based learning implementation [Conference Poster]. ISLS Annual Meeting 2021, Bochum, Germany.
- James, N. (2021). Using system thinking models to embed technology into experiential learning [Conference Presentation]. National Society for Experiential Education Conference, Orlando, FL, USA.
Awards & grants
- Nominee, Northeastern Global Educator Award (2025)
- Nominee, Northeastern Global Educator Award (2024)
- Massachusetts Work Immersion Network — Massachusetts Executive Office of Education (2021)
- City of Boston Summer Youth Employment Program – Virtual Internships — City of Boston Youth Employment & Engagement (2020–2021), PI: Alicia Modestino
- Broadening Participation in Experiential Learning Opportunities — National Science Foundation, Award #1725941 (2019–2021)
- Higher Education Digital Pedagogies for Inclusive Teaching and Learning — Open Society Foundations, via The Carey Institute for Global Good (2020), PI: Diana Woolis
- Technology Enabled Categorization of Learners for Improved Support in Experiential Learning — Intersective Pty Ltd (2014–2021), PI: Kemi Jona
