Contact information
Rachel Sharman
BSc (Hons), PhD
Senior Postdoctoral Researcher - Sleep Medicine
I am a Postdoctoral Research Assistant in the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi).
I am currently working on the BRC funding SCOTIA trial: evaluating the impact of digital CBTi on objective sleep outcomes and cognition in individuals with insomnia. Alongside this project I provide training in sleep methodology to the Oxford Online Programme in Sleep Medicine and run a number of projects around adolescent sleep and sleep behaviours.
My previous project was the Teensleep project evaluating school based interventions to improve adolescent sleep and academic attainment.
My background is in medical biochemistry (BSc) and psychology (PhD).
I have always had an interest in sleep research stemming from a placement year during my undergraduate within the Chronobiology Core of the Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard. From this, I decided to pursue research into sleep disruptions during my PhD, titled “Empirically testing the Neurocognitive model of Insomnia”.
Prior to joining the SCNi, I worked as a Clinical Research Officer at the Surrey Clinical Research Center as a lead sleep scientist on drug trials and in an NHS sleep clinic.
My research interests are adolescent sleep, insomnia, sleep deprivation and performance, sleep state misperception, and sleep disorders.
To find out more about our sleep research at the SCNi please visit: SCNi - take part in our research
To find out more about our online sleep medicine course please visit: Oxford Online Programme in Sleep Medicine
Recent publications
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The effect of sleep restriction therapy for insomnia on REM sleep fragmentation: A secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial
Journal article
MAURER L. et al, (2023), Journal of Sleep Research
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Pre-Sleep Cognitive Arousal Is Negatively Associated with Sleep Misperception in Healthy Sleepers during Habitual Environmental Noise Exposure: An Actigraphy Study.
Journal article
Sharman RL. et al, (2022), Clocks Sleep, 4, 88 - 99
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The Teensleep study: the effectiveness of a school-based sleep education programme at improving early adolescent sleep
Journal article
Illingworth G. et al, (2020), Sleep Medicine: X, 2, 100011 - 100011
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Isolating the role of time in bed restriction in the treatment of insomnia: a randomized, controlled, dismantling trial comparing sleep restriction therapy with time in bed regularization
Journal article
Maurer LF. et al, (2020), Sleep, 43
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Adolescent sleep and school performance — the problem of sleepy teenagers
Journal article
Sharman R. and Illingworth G., (2020), Current Opinion in Physiology, 15, 23 - 28