Sally Ferguson

About Me

Sally is the Director of the Appleton Institute and a Research Professor. Sally’s research background is circadian biology and understanding how the body clock helps keep us synchronized to the world around us and what happens when we work against our clocks.

In the last ten years this key research interest has led to Sally asking questions about the relationship between sleep, wake and work patterns, particularly for those working shiftwork. Sally has worked with industry partners in mining, rail, healthcare, marine pilotage, aviation and the emergency services. Sally's program of research has received funding support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Bushfire CRC and the CRC for Rail Innovation.

Sally does a lot of work in the area of fatigue risk management and sleeps very well herself.

General

Background

Sally completed a Bachelor of Science at Flinders University and a PhD from the University of Adelaide. Sally's background is in physiology and her PhD thesis focused on the neurotransmitters involved in transferring the light signal from the eyes to the biological clock in the brain. Since then, Sally has focused on specific systems under the control of the biological clock, namely sleep, melatonin and performance.

Universities Studied At

Flinders University of South Australia

University of Adelaide

Swinburne University

Universities Worked At

University of South Australia

University of Adelaide

CQUniversity

Professional Memberships

Australasian Sleep Association

Australasian Chronobiology Society

European Sleep Research Society

Working Time Society (International Commission on Occupational Health)

Professional Interests

A PhD in the field of sleep and circadian biology, and a Masters in Writing mean that when Sally isn't sleeping, she is writing. More often that not she is writing about sleep but Sally’s expertise and interests extend beyond nocturnal slumber to general health research and the medical sciences. She is also partial to writing about people, places and journeys. Sally’s passion is making the complex accessible and useful.

Research Supervision

Accreditation

I am currently accredited for supervision in the following:

3505 Human resources and industrial relations
4206 Public health
5203 Clinical and health psychology
5201 Applied and developmental psychology

Current Capacity

I am currently available to supervise more research candidates

Current Supervision

Doctor of Philosophy

Does physical activity during the day improve driving performance during the commute home?

Principal Supervisor

Doctor of Philosophy

Examining the effectiveness of interventions for healthy sleep habits

Principal Supervisor

Doctor of Philosophy

Exploring psychosocial determinants of health behaviours in shift workers through the development and validation of a Health Belief Model for Shift Workers (HBM-SW) scale

Associate Supervisor

Doctor of Philosophy

Shaping-up shift worker shut-eye: developing and trialling interventions for healthy sleep practices in shift workers

Associate Supervisor

Doctor of Philosophy

An investigation into the effectiveness of exercise as a sleep inertia countermeasure and an exploration of its application in emergency service workers.

Principal Supervisor

Doctor of Philosophy

Exploring the relationship between circadian variability and breaking up sitting on fatigue and cognitive performance during the nightshift.

Principal Supervisor

Complete Supervision

Doctor of Philosophy

The Effects of Temperature, Sleep Restriction, and Physical Activity on the Sleep Architecture and Cognitive Performance of Volunteer Firefighters During Various Simulated Wildland Fireground Tours.

Principal Supervisor