James Douet is a consultant industrial historian and exhibition curator, based in Barcelona. Recent research projects have included the comparative thematic studies for TICCIH and ICOMOs, used to guide World Heritage evaluations, of the heritage of the water industry and of oil/petroleum production. A long collaboration with TICCIH since the Greek Congress in 1997 includes drafting the Nizhny Tagil Charter, editing the TICCIH guide Industrial Heritage Retooled, and producing the quarterly TICCIH Bulletin. I teach an on-line course on industrial heritage conservation with the Canadian Athabasca University.

The history of waterworks, The Architecture of Steam, linking social, architectural and technical perspectives, is published by Liverpool University Press in February 2023.

Exhibition projects include museums of cement production, textiles, building construction, and most recently of work itself, a viewpoint extending from prehistoric bands to artificial intelligence.

My current focus is on developing a project for a comparative study of the royal manufactories and production facilities which were established by ancien régime states as an alternative path to industrialization, and identifying common approaches to their conservation and management.