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Charles Pedlar

Professor - Applied Sports and Exercise Science

Charles Pedlar

About Research

Email: charles.pedlar@stmarys.ac.uk

Biography

Biography

Charlie is a Professor of Applied Sports and Exercise Science at St Mary's in the Faculty of Sport, Technology and Health Sciences, and a CASES accredited Sports Physiologist. He is also an Honorary Professor at UCL (ISEH).

Career history

Charlie gained his PhD from Brunel University in 2007. He previously held positions at the British Olympic Association and the English Institute of Sport (primary sport: British Athletics). At St Mary’s University Charlie was the Director of the Centre for Health, Applied Sport and Exercise Science at St Mary’s between 2009 and 2015 and Academic Director for Research and Enterprise between 2010 and 2015. In 2019, Charlie was a member of the Gatorade Sport Science Institute’s Expert Panel. In 2023 he was a member of the FIFA Female Health Project expert group. He was awarded a full Professorship at St Mary’s in 2021 and maintains a part-time position within the Faculty of Sport, Technology and Health Sciences. Charlie has consultancy roles outside of St Mary’s and is currently Chief Science Officer at Orreco. Charlie is co-organiser of Marathon Medicine, the TCS London Marathon’s conference on the Science and Medicine of Endurance Running.

Achievements

  • 2014 BASES Applied Practitioner Award: “The award acknowledges outstanding and innovative service delivery in sport and/or exercise science by BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise Scientists.”
  • BASES Fellowship awarded in 2016.
  • 2023 WiSEAN: Nominated by members of WiSEAN for ‘a significant contribution to sport and exercise for girls/women and who they felt was inspirational in their field’.
  • 2024/25 Guest Editor of a special supplementary edition of the journal Sports Medicine

PhD completions

  • Dr Andrew McGeever (Atlantic Technological University, Ireland and Orreco). Sleep and the female athlete. Completed 2025
  • Dr Agatha Gibbons (Waikato University, NZ and Orreco). Cultural aspects of menstrual health tracking. Completed 2025
  • Dr Adam Mattiussi (St Mary’s University & The Royal Ballet). ‘Jumping in professional ballet’ Completed 2023
  • Dr Luke Edinborough (St Mary’s University & Southampton FC). ‘Sleep in professional football players’ Completed 2023
  • Dr Rod Azadan (University of Houston, USA) ‘Endurance physiology biomarkers’ Completed 2022
  • Dr Joe Shaw (St Mary’s University and the Royal Ballet Company) ‘Workload quantification in professional ballet’ Completed 2022
  • Dr Diarmuid Daniels (National University of Ireland, Galway) ‘Redox and inflammation in English Premier League soccer players’ Completed 2021
  • Dr Forrest Baker (University of Arizona, USA) ‘The effects of exercise on immunity’ Completed 2020
  • Dr Catherine Graham (St Mary’s University) ‘Parental and Child Overweight Based on Lifestyle and Genetic Factors’ Completed 2019
  • Dr Georgie Bruinvels (University College London) ‘Women in sport: Iron deficiency’ Completed 2018.
  • Dr Leta Pilic (St Mary’s University) ‘Genetics of salt sensitivity’ Completed 2017
  • Dr Nathan Lewis (English Institute of Sport/Orreco/St Mary's University) ‘Redox status of the elite athlete.’ Completed 2016
  • Dr Jessica Hill (St Mary's University) ‘The efficacy of compression garments on recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage’ Completed 2015
  • Dani Muniz (St Mary's University) ‘Anaerobic capacity measurement’ Completed 2015
  • Dr Richard Burden (St Mary’s University/English Institute of Sport) ‘The Effects of Iron Deficiency and Iron Repletion in the Endurance Athlete.’ Completed 2014
  • Dr Ben Holliss (University of Exeter/British Swimming) ‘Physiological and performance adaptations to altitude and hypoxic training.’ Completed 2013 (University of Exeter).

Current doctoral students

  • Paul Hough (St Mary’s University) ‘Sleep and cognitive function in athletes’
  • Niall McSweeney (St Mary’s University and The Royal Ballet School) ‘Maturation and ballet’
  • Edward Jakszta (St Mary’s University) ‘Masters athletes and nutrition’
  • Chelsea Oester (University of Western Sydney) ‘Female soccer player health’
  • Niamh Mallon (Atlantic Technological University, (Ireland) & Orreco): ‘Nutrition and menstrual cycle symptoms in athletes’
  • Isabella Coombes (Massey University, New Zealand) ‘Female soccer player monitoring’
  • Lorna Crawford (St Mary’s University and Orreco) ‘Recovery in professional football’
  • Toby Helder (St Mary’s University and Orreco) ‘Biomarkers of recovery in sport’.
  • Rebecca Tarpey (ATU and Orreco) ‘Strategies to reduce menstrual cycle symptoms’   
  • Iona Glidden (Oxford University) ‘Immune function and the menstrual cycle’

Research

Areas of research supervision

  • Physiological and nutritional aspects of sports performance
  • Exercise in public health, particularly Running
  • Blood biomarkers in sport
  • Sleep and cognition in athletes and the military
  • Female athlete health and performance

Research profile

Areas of research supervision

  • Allostasis in sport
  • Physiological and nutritional aspects of sports performance
  • Exercise in public health, particularly Running
  • Blood biomarkers in sport
  • Sleep and cognition in athletes and the military
  • Female athlete health and performance

Charlie is an experienced research leader and has held the position of Academic Director of Research and Enterprise in the School of Sport, Health and Applied Science (2005-2010). He is an Associate Editor at the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Charlie was the Unit 26 (Sport and Exercise, Leisure and Tourism) lead for the REF2014 and submitted to both the RAE2008, REF2014 and REF2020. He has a growing list of 16 PhD completions. In 2016 and 2017 Charlie undertook a 2-year research sabbatical at the Cardiovascular Performance Program and Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School), conducting research into the cardiovascular adaptations to marathon running. Predominantly Charlie's research funding has come from the Sport and Exercise Science and Medicine Industry and he is currently generating ongoing funding from Orreco, The Royal Ballet, the Ministry of Defence, and OmegaQuant. He has previously received funding from parkrun, SCA (Bodyform), Southampton FC, National Physical Laboratory, STRAVA, in addition to funds raised through the delivery of sport and exercise science services at St Mary's University.

Research publications

For a complete publication record, see Charles's Google Scholar profile.

Selected research publications

Media enquiries

For media enquiries, please contact our Press Office Team by emailing press.office@stmarys.ac.uk.