Rate My Professor Luke Kelly

Associate Professor Luke Kelly serves as Director of the Australian Centre for Precision Health and Technology (PRECISE) at Griffith University within the School of Health Sciences and Social Work. A trained podiatrist, he earned a Bachelor of Health Science (Podiatry) from Queensland University of Technology in 2003 and a PhD in Human Movement Sciences from The University of Queensland in 2015, with a thesis on the in-vivo function of human plantar intrinsic foot muscles. Previously a Research Fellow and Research Associate at UQ's School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, where he holds an Honorary Associate Professor position, Kelly has built a distinguished career in neuromusculoskeletal biomechanics. His leadership at PRECISE drives advancements in ultra-personalised precision healthcare using digital twin modelling platforms to identify biomarkers for musculoskeletal and neurological conditions, facilitating tailored treatments and monitoring.

Kelly's research centres on the biomechanics and motor control of the human foot, exploring intrinsic foot muscle function, longitudinal arch mechanics, energy storage and recoil during locomotion, foot shape variations, and their implications for performance, injury prevention, and rehabilitation. He employs advanced techniques including biplanar videoradiography, fine-wire electromyography, musculoskeletal modelling, and markerless motion capture. Key publications include 'Intrinsic foot muscles have the capacity to control deformation of the longitudinal arch' (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2014; 424 citations), 'Recruitment of the plantar intrinsic foot muscles with increasing postural demand' (Clinical Biomechanics, 2012; 384 citations), 'The functional importance of human foot muscles for bipedal locomotion' (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2019; 279 citations), 'Active regulation of longitudinal arch compression and recoil during walking and running' (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2015; 276 citations), and recent works such as 'Human in vivo talocrural contributions to ankle joint complex kinematics during walking, running, and hopping' (Heliyon, 2025) and 'Mitigating stress: exploring how our feet change shape with size' (Royal Society Open Science, 2025). With over 2,700 citations, his contributions influence sports science, osteoarthritis management, footwear design, and prosthetic development. Kelly supervises PhD candidates, delivers keynote lectures internationally, including at the Footwear Biomechanics Symposium 2025, and holds roles such as Sponsorship Officer for the International Society of Biomechanics and nominee for Sports Medicine Australia Board.