Gaby Illingworth

I am a senior postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychiatry and the Sir Jules Thorn Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi) at the University of Oxford. My research interest is adolescent sleep, with a particular focus on the relationship between sleep and mental health, protective and risk factors regarding sleep, and the development and evaluation of school-based interventions to improve sleep.

Current work includes the MYSLEEP project, an international taskforce based on five continents, funded by a Wellcome Trust Mental Health Award and led by researchers at Monash University, Australia. We are investigating bio-psycho-social and environmental factors associated with sleep and circadian rhythm disruption and their associations with anxiety and depression in youth. Our work aims to inform the development of effective depression and anxiety prevention and intervention approaches.

I am the sleep lead on the OxWell Student Survey (PI, Prof Mina Fazel), a large-scale, repeated cross-sectional survey of schools and further education colleges (FECs) in England, which asks students a range of questions on mental health and wellbeing, life experiences, and behaviours. As part of this survey, I have used data to explore sleep patterns during COVID-19 restrictions, whether a brief measure can be used to screen for potential sleep problems in young people, and investigated social jetlag and sleep habits in children and adolescents.

Previous work at the University of Oxford includes the Teensleep Study, where we developed and evaluated the effectiveness of a school-based sleep education programme at improving early adolescent sleep.  

Before joining the University of Oxford, I worked as a clinical studies officer for the Mental Health Research Network at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, and as a research associate at Oxford Brookes University. Prior to this, I worked in a variety of roles in publishing and marketing.    

My academic background includes a BSc (Hons) in Politics from the University of BristoI, but is primarily in psychology, including a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, an MRes in Developmental Psychology and a PhD in Psychology.