Dr Danielle Charles

BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, FHEA, CASES CEP, RSPH

Pronouns: She/her
  • Research Associate in Predictors of Resilience and Frailty

Research groups and centres

Danielle Charles

Dr Charles’s research is unified by an overarching interest in the use of wearable devices to measure, understand and improve human function in both clinical and performance contexts.

Health and Longevity
In this strand, Dr Charles investigates how wearable technologies can inform and optimise physical activity interventions for individuals with long-term conditions. Her work explores physical activity and exercise in ageing populations, with a focus on improving health outcomes. She has led evaluations of community-based services, integrated evidence-based exercise interventions and developed methods to improve adherence.

Sports Performance
Dr Charles also applies wearable technology to enhance athletic performance, with a particular interest in running biomechanics and workload monitoring. Her PhD research developed innovative gait analysis techniques, contributing to more precise quantification of performance in athletes. Her work bridges applied sport science and data-driven insights to support training optimisation and injury prevention.

Dr Charles currently works with Professor Katherine Brooke Wavell on a project examining predictors of resilience and frailty in older people, funded by the Wellcome LEAP Dynamic Resilience programme.

Outside of academia, Dr Charles is a high-performance rowing coach and former elite rower, competes nationally in tag rugby, is a qualified PADI Divemaster, and sits on the BASES Exercise Physiology Special Interest Group. Her diverse sporting and professional engagements reflect a lifelong commitment to performance and health.

Featured publications