Professor Clare Anderson BSc (hons), PhD, FHEA

BSc (hons) Psychology

PhD Psychophysiology/Sleep

Clare completed her PhD on sleep and wake EEG biomarkers of executive function in older adults (PhD) at Loughborough University, before focusing on more applied aspects sleep science as part of her post-doctoral training, specifically the effects of sleep loss on driving and distractibility.

In 2008, Clare was appointed as an Assistant Neuroscientist/Lecturer in Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, US, studying the effects of light and sleep/wake schedules on circadian phase shifting and associated performance profiles in highly controlled laboratory environments and the effect of trainee physician shift schedules on adverse driving outcomes using a field-based approach. In 2011, She joined Monash University in Melbourne Australia as a Senior Lecturer, before being appointed as Associate Professor in 2015. During this time, Clare founded and led the Applied Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Laboratory (the ‘Anderson’ Lab) leading a program of work to understand the role of sleep and circadian timing on brain and cognitive health and developing and validating novel biomarkers and technologies to promote next generation approaches to detect/manage the effects of insufficient sleep.

In 2023, Clare joined the University of Birmingham and Centre for Human Brain Health as a Professor of Sleep and Circadian Science.

Clare has extensive experience in post-graduate supervision, as both a primary supervisor and University leadership in graduate research. She is keen to hear from interested students on opportunities to undertake further study/research in her lab, particularly in the areas of:

• Understanding the role of sleep on biological, physiological and behavioural outcomes using highly controlled sleep deprivation/enhancement experimental designs.
• Exploring the determinants and consequences of drowsy driving and developing targeted strategies for mitigating the impaired state.
• The development of sleep biomarkers in healthy and clinical populations (e.g., Alzheimer’s Disease, Epilepsy), including biological (e.g., metabolomics, proteomics) and physiological (e.g., EEG, ocular metrics) targets.
• Examination of the role of sleep in healthy ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease from the perspective of both cognition and biological (amyloid, tau) end-points.

Specific projects can be found on FindAPhD

• Development and validation of behavioural, physiological and biological ‘biomarkers’ of sleep and circadian disruption.
• Neurobehavioral and cognitive impact of sleep loss and circadian misalignment (field- and lab-based).
• Sleep and circadian interventions to promote alertness and cognitive function across the lifespan, with specific focus on healthy cognitive ageing.
• Drowsiness detection and monitoring, and the use of ocular metrics in detection of the drowsy state.
• Drowsy driving - management and detection of drowsy driving risk.
• Role of sleep and circadian timing in healthy ageing and dementia risk.
• Brain (acoustic) stimulation to promote cognitive and brain health.

• Theme Leader for Biomarkers of Alertness in the CRC for Alertness, Safety & Productivity (2013-2020) and founding member of the Australian Sleep and Alertness Consortium (ASAC, now Sleep Health Foundation’s Industry Research Collaboration).
• Scientific Advisor on the Victorian State Government’s Device Impairment Working Group (2017-2023) 
• Consortium Lead for the AAA’s Evaluation of Fatigue Detection Technologies (2020-2024)
• Acted as expert consultant for several road safety organizations including National Transport Commission, National Road Safety Priority Program, Transport Accident Commission and Office of Public Prosecutions (Victoria, Australia)  
• Adjunct Professor (Research). Monash University Accident Research Centre
• Adjunct Professor/CI in NHMRC Synergy, School of Psychology, University of Sydney
• Adjunct Professor/CI in ARC Training Centre in Optimal Ageing, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University.
• Editorial board for Scientific Reports and Frontiers of Sleep