Research Students

The Appleton Institute welcomes students from third year undergraduate, honours and postgraduate (Masters and PhD) programs to study and work with our staff on various research projects.

We offer places to third year students from physiology and psychology programs, typically on specific projects related to: sleep and circadian physiology; sleep deprivation and performance; field studies of shiftwork and fatigue; human factors and safety systems, and; studies of clinical sleep disorders.

Prospective students interested in finding out more information about research at the Appleton Institute should contact Associate Professor Sally Ferguson on 08 8378 4508 or Sally.Ferguson@cqu.edu.au.

Current Students

Our current students include:

	Michele Lastella M.Lastella@cqu.edu.au Michele completed his honours project at the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2009 titled: 'Athletes' precompetitive sleep behaviour and its relationship with subsequent precompetitive mood and performance.' He is now conducting a research PhD investigating sleep behaviour in elite athletes.
	Lynette Browning Lynette.Browning@cqu.edu.au Lynette has a background in research and is working on her PhD, titled 'Grow your own: building research capacity in the higher education environment'. Lynette has worked within the private, public, military, and tertiary sectors, and her research interests are in the areas of leadership. Lynette is a qualified workplace trainer and assessor and holds a Bachelor of Adult and Vocational Education (Honours) from the University of South Australia.
	Anastasi "Stazmo" Kosmadopoulos A.Kosmadopoulos@cqu.edu.au In 2012 Stas started his PhD investigating the impact of split-sleep schedules on cognitive and neurobehavioural performance, subjective alertness, and glucose metabolism (i.e. whether dividing the day into multiple, shorter work/rest cycles can mitigate the effects of fatigue and sleep restriction compared to a normal schedule). His supervisors are Dr Greg Roach, Dr Charli Sargent and Dr David Darwent.
	Michael Cvirn M.Cvirn@cqu.edu.au Michael started his PhD in 2012, investigating the neurocognitive effects of sleep loss. Michael is part of the Bushfire CRC project team, and is currently collecting data in the field with groups of volunteer firefighters working simulated three-day bushfire suppresion tours. Michael is supervised by Dr Sally Ferguson and Dr Bradley Smith.
	Lily Hirsch Lily.Hirsch@cqumail.com Lily commenced her PhD with CQUniversity in April 2012 titled ‘It’s a jungle in here: a study of crowding on Indian trains’. Her research investigates the behaviour and experiences of crowded passengers on trains in Mumbai and Chennai, India. This research follows from a CRC for Rail Innovation study entitled ‘A socio-economic study of platform and carriage crowding in the railway industry' in which Lily was a research assistant. Her supervisors are Dr Kirrilly Thompson, Associate Professor Matthew Thomas, both from CQUniversity and Professor Bernard Guerin from the University of South Australia
	Tessa Benveniste In 2013 she is starting a PhD and is currently working on her proposal !
	Elisha Vlaholias Elisha has just started her PhD working on the ARC Food Waste Project. Australians waste nearly 50% of the food they buy, producing over 3 million tonnes of garbage worth more than $5b and increasing our carbon footprint through transport costs and green house gases from decomposition. This three-year project is a collaboration between UniSA, Flinders University, the Local Government Association of SA and Zero Waste SA. This project will embed an anthropologist within South Australian homes to understand why people waste food and enable the development of effective interventions to reduce this waste. The anthropological investigation will then be followed up by the economic, environmental and psychological modelling and explication food wastage in South Australia.
	Hayley Etherton Hayley's primary interests are in children, youth and families, minority groups and psychosocial factors. She completed her psychology honours thesis on health-related quality of life and sleep in school children following a sleep education program. Her PhD will investigate infant sleep and settling treatments, including barriers and enablers for uptake and compliance, within Australia from parents' and health provider's points of view.

2013 Honours Students

	Courtney Clegget
	Abby Chapman
	Natalie Muldoon
	Breanna Drew Breanna is working with Dr. Sarah Blunden on the Beyond Blue project, to investigate how sleep loss and depression interact in adolescent males over the school term.
	Deena Cooper
	Stephen Walker Steve has completed all 4^th year course work of a Bachelor of Psychology Honours degree and is currently undertaking his honours thesis project under the supervision of Dr Chris Bearman. Steve’s research study will examine barriers to interpersonal communication within the South Australian Country Fire Service.
	Bert Watt
	Adrianne Jones
	Tess Armstrong Tess is working on the ASH project with Dr. Bradley Smith as an honours student. Her thesis will looking sleep deprivation, subjective fatigue, motivation and the ability to self-monitor cognitive performance.
	Tamika Cristoforou Tamika is working on the ASH project with Dr. Bradley Smith as an honours student. Her thesis will looking sleep deprivation and cognitive performance.
	Elizabeth Bryant
	Sally Warren
	Nicole Wise

Student Alumni

Alex Forndran

David Zammit

Tessa Benveniste

Research Students

Current Students

Michele Lastella

Lynette Browning

Anastasi "Stazmo" Kosmadopoulos

Michael Cvirn

Lily Hirsch

Tessa Benveniste

Elisha Vlaholias

Hayley Etherton

2013 Honours Students

Courtney Clegget

Abby Chapman

Natalie Muldoon

Breanna Drew

Deena Cooper

Stephen Walker

Bert Watt

Adrianne Jones

Tess Armstrong

Tamika Cristoforou

Elizabeth Bryant

Student Alumni