Dr Judith Charlton

Dr Judith Charlton is the Program Manager for Behavioural Research in Road Safety at MUARC, responsible for older road user and child road safety research projects.

Dr Charlton has over 20 years research experience in the applied health sciences, with a research focus in brain-behaviour relationships, neuropsychological disorders and motor impairment. Since joining MUARC in 2000, Judith has quickly established a strong reputation both nationally and internationally in older driver safety.

In the last seven years, she has written approximately 60 publications in road safety, including 35 peer-reviewed publications and 20 reports (for industry, government departments and NGOs). Of particular relevance is a pioneering series of driving-simulator studies by her doctoral student on the effect of Parkinson’s disease upon driving.

Her reputation is evidenced by national and international collaborative research activities, including over 15 projects in collaboration with academics, government bodies (health, disability, and driver licensing authorities), medical and health practitioners and motor vehicle engineers.

Her current work investigates the role of vision and cognitive functions in driving and uses leading edge driving simulator validation methods to examine the effects of vision impairment and age-related cognitive changes on fitness to drive in simulated and real-world settings. As a result of this work she has received invitations to speak on simulator validation work in North America.

Dr Charlton serves on several national and international committees, including Scientific Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine and the V.I.S.I.O.N. congress and she has also been an advisor to EU projects on medical conditions and driving.