Sleep in childhood is essential for health and development, with cascading effects on cognition, educational achievement and wellbeing. The World Health Organization (WHO) identify noise pollution as a significant contributor to sleep problems and recommend that night-time environmental noise is kept as low as possible, especially for vulnerable populations including children. Yet, a seemingly contradictory strategy used by parents to improve children’s sleep involves introducing noise into the child’s auditory environment by playing ‘white noise’, a sound that has an equal intensity at every frequency in the range of human hearing. Despite widespread use of white noise in the UK, empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of white noise as a sleep aid in children is highly limited, with very small samples, often fewer than 10 children, and reliance on parent-report metrics of child sleep. The first aim of this PhD is to test the effectiveness of white noise on sleep quality during toddler naps, using state-of-the art co-registered EEG and fNIRS technology. The effectiveness of white noise on improved sleep quality likely depends on child characteristics; the greatest benefit may be seen for children who have sensory sensitivities, a common trait in neurodivergent children (e.g. autism and ADHD) who are at heightened risk of sleep problems. The second key aim will be to test whether white noise differentially improves sleep quality in children with increased sensory sensitivities. The final aim is to test whether improved sleep quality is linked to increased post-nap cognitive performance measured via neuroimaging and eye-tracking tasks.
Queen Mary University of London’s (QMUL) Centre for Brain and Behaviour (CBB), directed by Dr Noreika and Professor Bedford, is a diverse, interdisciplinary, scientific environment. Within the CBB, the state-of-the-art Child Development Lab and Sleep Lab include EEG, fNIRS, high-speed precision eye-tracking and actigraphy. The CBB has strong expertise in cognitive developmental neuroscience as well as the statistical modelling approaches appropriate for developmental data (including structural equation modelling). This PhD student will be provided with comprehensive training in developmental testing, cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience and analytic methods, and knowledge exchange approaches to maximise the potential reach and impact of their research.
Find out more about the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences on our website.
We are looking for candidates to have or expecting to receive a first or upper-second class honours degree and a Master’s degree in an area relevant to the project such as[Psychology, Research Methods, Cognitive Neuroscience.
Knowledge of developmental methods, including fNIRS, EEG and eye-tracking and would be advantageous but are not required.
You must meet the IELTS requirements for your course and upload evidence before CSC’s application deadline, ideally by 1st March 2025. You are therefore strongly advised to sit an approved English Language test as soon as possible, where your IELTS test must still be valid when you enrol for the programme.
Please find further details on our English Language requirements page.
Formal applications must be submitted through our online form by 29th January 2025 for consideration. Please identify yourself as a ‘CSC Scholar’ in the funding section of the application.
Applicants are required to submit the following documents:
Find out more about our application process on our SBBS website.
Informal enquiries about the project can be sent to Prof Rachael Bedford AT r.bedford@qmul.ac.uk Admissions-related queries can be sent to sbbs-pgadmissions@qmul.ac.uk
Shortlisted applicants will be invited for a formal interview by the supervisor. If you are successful in your QMUL application, then you will be issued an QMUL Offer Letter, conditional on securing a CSC scholarship along with academic conditions still required to meet our entry requirements.
Once applicants have obtained their QMUL Offer Letter, they should then apply to CSC for the scholarship with the support of the supervisor.
For further information, please go to the QMUL China Scholarship Council webpage.
Apply Online