Kelly is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), a Public Health Research Centre of Excellence within the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University.
As a transdisciplinary public health researcher, her expertise in physical activity spans across the life course with attention to physical and mental health outcome priorities. A key focus of her work is to develop innovative methods to assess equity of access among existing health improvement programmes across the UK, including mixed methods approaches and the integration of data linkage.
Current projects include a feasibility trial of school-based community linked role-model program (CHARMING) to increase and promote PA among pre-adolescent girls and the co-design of new resources for expectant mothers to support confident, safe and healthy choices for PA during pregnancy. Her Health and Care Research Wales Postdoctoral Fellowship used a mixed-methods design to evaluate the long-term implementation and patient outcomes of the National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) in Wales.
Kelly is Deputy Lead for the Healthy Ageing theme within Cardiff University’s strategic partnership with the Office for National Statistics and is a member of the International Society for Physical Activity and Health.
Kelly has 44 International caps representing Team Wales in netball at a number of international competitions including Commonwealth Games (Glasgow 2014, Gold Coast 2018) and World Championships (2016). She is a keen runner, enjoys triathlons, beach volleyball and teaches yoga.