Emma Sullivan
Postdoctoral Research Associate

Research

Overview

Exploring the role of sleep in emotion processing and mental health.

Projects

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate with a passion for understanding the associations between sleep, emotion regulation, and mental health. Specifically, I am interested in the cognitive mechanisms by which sleep supports emotion regulation and mental health. For example, how does sleep support the ability to implement adaptive emotion regulation strategies? And, how does a lack of sleep increase vulnerability to psychological disturbance?

To explore these questions, I use a wide range of methods such as self-report questionnaires, psychophysiology (skin conductance and heart rate), virtual reality, and polysomnography as well as statistical analysis techniques such as linear mixed modelling.

Research group(s)

• Emotional Processing and Offline Consolidation Research Lab 
• Sleep, Language and Memory lab

Grants

• Postgraduate Bursary Award (£100). Awarded by the British Psychological Society. 2023.
• Grindley Grant for EPS conference attendance (£180). Award by the Experimental Psychology Society. 2023.
• Grindley Grant for EPS conference attendance (£161). Award by the Experimental Psychology Society. 2023.
• Travel Grant ($300). Awarded by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment for the 5^th Oxford | Berlin Summer School on Open and Responsible Research in the Life Sciences. 2022.
• PhD Scholarship (£42622). Awarded by the University of York, 2020.

Collaborators

• Dr Scott Cairney
• Dr Cade McCall
• Professor Lisa-Marie Henderson

Teaching

Undergraduate

Graduate Teaching Assistant: University of York, Department of Psychology (October 2020- Present)

• Delivery of tutorials to 10-15 students enrolled on the BSc (Hons) in Psychology
• Marking of student essays and practical reports enrolled on the BSc (Hons) in Psychology

Postgraduate

• Supervision of mini projects including an MSci (Hons) Psychology final year project (Using Virtual Reality to Understand the Anxiety Impact of Sleep Deprivation)

Other teaching

Academic Assignment Tutor: University of York (June- July 2021, 2022, 2023)

• Worked with the University Access and Outreach team to provide one-to-one assignment support and feedback to students as they transition from A Level/BTEC to studying in Higher Education

Publications

Selected publications

• Sullivan, E. C., James, E., Henderson, L. M., McCall, C., & Cairney, S. A. (2023). The Influence of Emotion Regulation Strategies and Sleep Quality on Depression and Anxiety. Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.06.001.
• Sullivan E., Halstead, E. J., Ellis, J. G., & Dimitriou, D. (2021). Anxiety, Insomnia and Napping Predict Poorer Sleep Quality in an Autistic Adult Population. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(18), 9883. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189883.
• Halstead, E. J., Sullivan E., & Dimitriou, D. (2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on Sleep in Autistic Adults: Longitudinal Comparisons pre and During Lockdown. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 1608. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.708339.
• Halstead, E. J., Sullivan E., Zambelli, Z., Ellis, J. G., & Dimitriou, D. (2021). The Treatment of Sleep Problems in Autistic Adults in the United Kingdom. Autism,
  https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211007226.
• Halstead, E. J., Joyce, A., Sullivan, E., Tywyn, C., Davies, K., Jones, A., & Dimitriou, D. (2021). Sleep disturbances and patterns in children with neurodevelopmental conditions. Frontiers in Paediatrics, 9, 91. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.637770.

Full publications list

Google Scholar

External activities

Memberships

• BPS Cognitive Section General Member

Invited talks and conferences

• British Psychology Society Cognitive and Developmental Section Conference (September 2023). (Oral presentation: https://osf.io/vzhdg).
• British Association of Psychopharmacology Summer Meeting (July 2023). (Posters: https://osf.io/5ya9d, https://osf.io/v9j3t).
• Experimental Psychology Society Conference (January, July, 2023). (Oral presentations: https://osf.io/g3uxb, https://osf.io/dw6ue).
• British Association of Cognitive Neuroscience Conference (Poster, May 2022). (Poster: https://osf.io/5bef3).
• Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group, British Psychological Society Conference (Oral Presentation, July 2022). (Oral presentation: https://osf.io/axsju).
• The 5th Oxford | Berlin Summer School on Open and Responsible Research (Attendee, September 2022).
• Psychology Postgraduate Affairs Group, British Psychological Society Conference (Attendee, July 2021).

Media coverage

• University of York Press Release: “High-quality sleep promotes resilience to depression and anxiety”. (July 2023).
• York Festival of Ideas talk “How sleep influences our emotions” delivered to 30 members of the general public (May 2022).
• Submitted evidence to the UK Parliament Science and Technology Committee on Research Integrity and Ethics from an ECR perspective (November 2021).
• York Festival of Ideas talk “When the going gets tough, take a nap” (June 2021) delivered online via YouTube (941 views as of July 2023).