Emily Charlotte Stanyer

I study the mechanistic links between sleep, health, and disease, with a focus on how poor sleep contributes to mental health disorders. My postdoctoral research uses randomised controlled trials to examine the efficacy and neural mechanisms of sleep treatments for mental health. Currently, I am investigating functional brain networks in individuals undergoing CBT for insomnia using resting-state fMRI. My previous work includes preclinical models of sleep and migraine, and I have broader interests in sleep’s role in neurological disorders, memory, emotion, and women's health.

I graduated with an integrated Master’s in Psychology from the University of York in 2018, followed by a role as a research technician in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Leeds. I completed my PhD in Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London in 2023. My doctoral research, The Neural Mechanisms of Sleep and Migraine, explored a genetic mutation linked to short sleep duration and its effects on migraine-related phenotypes, as well as the role of the hypothalamic orexinergic system in migraine. I also conducted clinical research on sleep physiology and quality in individuals with migraine.

I am a registered Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a graduate member of the British Psychological Society. I lecture in undergraduate Biomedical Science at St Catherine’s College. I am on the advisory board of the Early Career Researchers Circadian Mental Health Network, and the committee of the European Insomnia Network as an early career member. Additionally, I am a Review Editor and Topic Coordinator for the Frontiers in Neurology: Sleep Disorders journal.