Charles Kennedy graduated with a B.Sc. (Honours) in Pharmacology from Aberdeen University then a PhD from University College London, where he worked with Professor Geoffrey Burnstock, FRS. These studies led to the division of P2 receptors into the P2X and P2Y subtypes. Following a postdoctoral position at Michigan State University, he was a Beit Research Memorial Fellow at Cambridge University, working with Graeme Henderson, before joining Strathclyde University, where he is currently an honorary reader.

His research interests are the pharmacological properties and physiological and pathophysiological functions of P2X and P2Y receptors, with particular reference at present to P2Y heteromultimer formation.

Charles is a Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society. He chairs the IUPHAR P2X receptor nomenclature sub-committee and sits on the P2Y receptor sub-committee. He is a past editor of the British Journal of Pharmacology and is now the editor-in-chief of Purinergic Signalling.