Charles got his B.S. and M.S. from Oxford University before moving to Cambridge University for a Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Richard Lambert. He then relocated to the U.S. to start postdoctoral fellowships with Professor Paul Weiss at Penn State and Professor Mike Fiddy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Research in the Sykes Group at Tufts University is aimed at understanding a range of technologically important systems from molecular rotors to chiral surfaces. Sykes was named a 2008 Beckman Young Investigator, a Cottrell Scholar of Research Corporation, an IUPAC Young Observer and is the recipient of a 2009 NSF CAREER Award.