Jacqueline Alderson Joins UCLA DataX as Director of Tech and Human Performance

Professor Jacqueline Alderson, renowned scientist and tech innovator, has joined UCLA DataX as Director of Tech and Human Performance, and Special Advisor for the Los Angeles Olympics, LA28. 

An international research leader in wearable and sensor-based technologies, machine learning, and pro-public technology development, Alderson has led the field of biomechanics in frontier applications of data and artificial intelligence for health and sport, as well as in the development of blue-sky research on digital human twins. She has over 250 publications and has supervised over 75 research students to completion (including 27 Ph.D.s). 

Alderson joins UCLA from her role as co-founder and Tech Director of the Tech & Policy Lab at the University of Western Australia, where she was a professor and tenured faculty member for 25 years. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Biomechanics at Griffith University and Visiting Fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University. 

Alderson was a key member of the UWA Biomechanics Group, a center of clinical and sports science excellence to the world's best athletes and global sporting organizations. She served on the International Cricket Council’s Panel of Human Movement Experts and helped lead the regulatory testing of illegal bowling actions for nearly two decades. 

In 2020, as her pipeline of Ph.D. graduates shifted from being highly sought-after by organizations such as the New York Yankees, Australian Institute of Sport, and International Tennis Federation to multinational tech companies tracking workers and citizens, Alderson had a major career pivot. Since that time, she has brought together transdisciplinary collaborations to interrogate the development and governance of human monitoring, placing her in a front row seat on critical challenges of digital justice.

“We could not be more thrilled by this appointment,” said Professor Safiya Umoja Noble, David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences and Faculty Director of Data Justice and Critical Data Studies. “Professor Alderson brings an exceptional suite of skills to DataX and the Center on Resilience & Digital Justice. We all stand to benefit immensely from her vision and expertise in research leadership and training, academic-industry collaboration, and principled innovation — an approach that celebrates and leans into friction, complexity, and rigor.”  

The appointment will see Alderson develop and lead a world-class research program in technology and human performance, alongside collaborating with key faculty and external leaders to build out a strategic vision for a center of research and educational excellence at the intersection of technology, data, health, sport, ethics, and governance. Drawing on three decades of innovative research collaborations across science, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities, she will help architect UCLA's approach to the Los Angeles Olympics as well as lead collaborations with cultural, artistic, educational, and sporting organizations that share DataX's commitment to interdisciplinary leadership in data science and data justice.

Alderson is a Fellow of the International Society of Biomechanics and the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports and has served repeat terms as an Executive Council member and Director of both Societies. In 2023 she received the inaugural Fulbright-American Chamber of Commerce in Australia Professional Alliance Award, spending Spring 2024 as a Fulbright Senior Scholar and Visiting Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University. In 2024 Alderson was awarded the prestigious ISBS Geoffrey Dyson Award for career achievement in sports biomechanics. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree with Honors and earned her Ph.D. in Biomechanics from the University of Western Australia.