Nicola Barclay, PhD, is a Sleep Scientist and Psychologist, with extensive experience of sleep research, research design, big data and education.  She was a Lecturer in Sleep Medicine at the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford from 2016 to 2021, training clinicians in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of sleep and circadian disorders.

Prior to this appointment, Nicola was Associate Director of the Northumbria Centre for Sleep Research at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK from 2011 to 2016. In 2011, she completed her PhD at the University of London, focussing on Quantitative and Molecular Genetic Approaches to Understanding Sleep Quality and Diurnal Preference, where she was awarded the ‘Rising Researcher’ award, 2011. She received a first-class honours degree in Psychology from the University of Sussex.

She has more recently worked as a Data Scientist in industry, exploring the use of big data to understand trajectories of health and disease. Nicola has published over 50 peer-reviewed publications on sleep, and has extensive experience of educating clinical professionals in sleep medicine and research, as well as expertise in statistical methodologies and research study design

In this episode, we discuss:

• Phenotypes, chronotypes and diurnal preferences
• Associations between diurnal preference, sleep quality and externalizing behaviours: a behavioural genetic analysis 
• Quantitative genetic research on sleep: a review of normal sleep, sleep disturbances and associated emotional, behavioural, and health-related difficulties
• Genetic and environmental influences on different components of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and their overlap
• Diurnal preference and sleep quality: same genes? A study of young adult twins
• Sustained wakefulness and visual attention: moderation by chronotype

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