Appleton HONOURS Projects 2015

CQUniversity Adelaide
The Appleton Institute
Psychology Honours
Supervisors & Projects 2015

44 Greenhill Road, Wayville SA 5034
(08) 8378 4523
www.cqu.edu.au/appleton
/theappletoninstitute
CQUniversity Adelaide - The Appleton Institute is situated to the south of the city within close
proximity to CBD and easily accessible to various forms of public transport.
We are a multidisciplinary research hub specialising in research, teaching and community
engagement in a wide range of areas. Our staff are experts in safety science, sleep and fatigue,
human factors, applied psychology, human-animal interaction, and cultural anthropology.
The Appleton Institute was established
as part of CQUniversity in January 2012,
combining excellence in research, teaching
and community engagement across a range
of areas including applied psychology, sleep
and biological rhythms, occupational health
and safety, human factors, risk management,
cultural anthropology and immigration.
The Appleton Institute boasts around 30 professional
researchers, research students and support staff
across a broad range of talents, skills and specialist
areas. We are able to supervise students in both term
1 and mid-year intake.
CQUniversity Adelaide provides an exciting change
from the traditional university experience...
“Surrounded by a dedicated team of career researchers and PhD students, Honours
students are invited to become active team members in one of the many scientific
studies running in newly built, state of the art facilities.”
Natalie Muldoon
Psychology Honours at The Appleton Institute
* Please note that for all projects undertaken with the Appleton Institute, the preference is for students to be located in Adelaide
for data collection. Other arrangement may me made upon negotiation with the supervisor.
Adelaide’s best“Little University...”

Professor Drew Dawson BA (Hons), PhD
Sleep & Circadian Physiology
Drew.Dawson@cqu.edu.au
Drew Dawson is the Director of the Appleton Institute, and Head of CQUniversity Adelaide. He has a strong
track record in basic and applied research into the effects of shift work and sleep loss on the health of
employees. Basic research programs are focused on the interactions of the sleep and circadian systems, the
effects of sleep loss and the ways people protect themselves against fatigue-related errors. This work has led
to numerous technological advancements in fatigue management including the FAID software, the prior
sleep-wake rules within the Fatigue Calculator and more recent developments in fatigue-related error proofing.
Professor Sally Ferguson BAppSc, BSc (Hons), PhD
Sally.Ferguson@cqu.edu.au
Sally is the Assistant Director of the Appleton Institute and also Deputy Dean (Research) for the School of
Human Health and Social Sciences. Sally’s research is focused on the impact of work patterns, particularly
shiftwork, on sleep, waking performance and health and safety. One of Sally’s current projects is investigating
the impact of being on-call. Lots of industries roster workers for‘on-call’shifts – emergency services,
healthcare, mining, rail, power and water providers. On-call workers effectively‘sleep with one ear open’
waiting for the phone to ring or the pager to go off. Sally and her team-mates are interested in finding out
more about the impacts of sleeping with one ear open on sleep and next day performance.
Associate Professor Greg Roach BEc, BCom, BA (Hons), PhD
Greg.Roach@cqu.edu.au
Greg is interested in the effects of sleep deprivation on recovery sleep and circadian physiology. He
is involved in conducting forced desynchrony protocols whereby participants are removed from any
external time cues (such as watches, television and the day/night cycle). Greg has also been involved in the
mathematical modelling of fatigue during shiftwork, particularly in the aviation industry where multiple
timezones add complexity to the circadian rhythm.
Recently, Greg was awarded an NHRMC project grant to evaluate the impact of sleep loss on the development of type 2 diabetes.
This is a harmful disorder affecting almost one million Australians, costing the community more than $30 billion every year. Poor
diet and physical inactivity are regarded as the primary behavioural causes, but recent evidence suggests that chronic sleep
loss, as experienced by over 30% of Australians, may also play an important role. This project will examine metabolic function in
participants scheduled to 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9h in bed every night for a week. Predictors of type 2 diabetes and markers of stress will be
assessed throughout the study.
Associate Professor Sarah Blunden BA (Hons), Master Social Sc. PhD
Paediatric Sleep
S.Blunden@cqu.edu.au
Sarah Blunden specialises in Paediatric sleep. She has spent the past 10 years researching, treating and
lecturing on children’s sleep both nationally and internationally, as well as delivering education and
information sessions to the community, educators and health care professionals. Sarah is recognised as an
authority on children’s sleep and is widely published in the field. Projects include:
• Evaluation of whether sleep education changes sleep behaviour in school students
• Seasonal variations in sleep in adolescent males
• Infant temperament and how it impacts sleep patterns
Associate Professor Matthew Thomas BA, MEnvSt, PhD
Human Factors and Safety Management Systems
Matthew.Thomas@cqu.edu.au
Dr Matthew Thomas is one of Australia’s leading scientists in the field of Human Factors and safety
management in high risk work environments. For over a decade he has provided expert advice and Human
Factors solutions to airlines, the road and rail industry, healthcare, mining, utilities, construction and defence.
As an accomplished scientist, he has published widely in the academic literature and brings a unique blend of
scientific integrity and industry application to his work. This year he is offering projects analysing sleep, wake
and fatigue data from the maritime domain and human error in aviation and healthcare.

Dr Charli Sargent BAppSc, BSc (Hons), PhD
Sleep & Circadian Physiology 
Charli.Sargent@cqu.edu.au
Charli works in two major areas of research (i) field-based studies examining the sleep/wake behaviour of elite
athletes, and (ii) laboratory-based studies examining the relative impacts of sleep, wake and body clock on
metabolic function, eating behaviour and neurobehavioural performance.

Dr David Darwent BA (Hons), PhD
D.Darwent@cqu.edu.au
David is interested in the effects of sleep deprivation on recovery sleep and circadian physiology. He has
also been in investigations into the effects of sleeping locations at work on sleep quality, and in the use of
mathematical fatigue models.
Dr Xuan Zhou BPsy (Hons), PhD,
X.Zhou@cqu.edu.au
Xuan completed his PhD in 2012, focussing on how sleep-wake patterns affect people’s performance capacity.
He is primarily interested in the human circadian rhythm and response to external zeitgebers.

Dr Anjum Naweed BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, CPE
Human Factors / Applied Psychology / Occupational Health & Safety
Anjum.Naweed@cqu.edu.au
Anjum is a cognitive psychologist and ergonomist specialising in human factors and safety science. He has
pursued these areas in a number of industries, particularly transportation. He has experience with a diverse
range of qualitative and quantitative techniques, from interviewing through to simulator-based lab work, and
is interested in all aspects of human factors, workplace culture, job design, and human-machine interaction.
Anjum is recognised as an authority in the area of Transport Ergonomics and Human Factors. He has edited
books, published in academic articles, papers, reports, magazines, and has even published a short story or two.
He encourages creative research, creative thinking, and imagination in research design and process. Topics include:
• Complex decision making • Knowledge representation • Work health & safety
• Learning/skills development • Mental models • Risk perception
Dr Chris Bearman BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD
C.Bearman@cqu.edu.au
Chris has been a post-doc researcher for over 10 years, including 2 spells as a research scientist at NASA. Hi
s interests are in error and decision making in human factors and cognitive psychology. Research highlights include investigating
why small commercial aviation operators make bad decisions; identifying high risk tasks and mitigating strategies for volunteer
fire fighter commanders, and contributing to the human factors evaluation of the NextGen US airspace system redesign. Potential
projects include:
• Better tools to help fire fighters make good decisions under pressure;
• Why people don’t follow work procedures;
• Biases in supervisor’s risk assessments;
• Factors that lead people to make poor decisions in operational situations.
Dr Larissa Clarkson BPsych (Hons), PhD
L.Clarkson@cqu.edu.au
Larissa completed her PhD in 2012, on Short-Term Memory in Psycholinguistics. She is interested in
organisational culture, sleep, fatigue, and human factors. Larissa teaches courses in research methods and
statistics as well as supervising honours students.

Dr Jessica Paterson BPsych (Hons), PhD
Research Fellow in Applied Psychology
Jessica.Paterson@cqu.edu.au
Jess has conducted multiple research and consulting projects with the healthcare, transport and
manufacturing industries. She is interested in the experience of fatigue, workplace culture and psychosocial
wellbeing for healthcare and emergency services workers and in the relationship between sleep and mental
illness. Projects/topics include:
• Health and safety risks associated with being on-call for Australian firefighters
• Stress and fatigue experienced by Australian paramedics
• Sleep, fatigue and health in the Australian population
• Sleep and fatigue for young workers and young drivers

Dr Danielle Every BPsych (Hons), PhD
Research Fellow in Social Psychology 
D.Every@cqu.edu.au
Danielle is a social psychologist currently working on projects relating to socially vulnerable groups and
natural disasters, particularly people experiencing homelessness or physical/psychiatric disabilities. Danielle
uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Projects include:
• An investigation of people with a psychiatric disability and their planning, preparation and recovery from natural disasters
• A survey of homelessness service providers in relation to planning, preparation and recovery from natural disasters
• Investigating bushfire planning and preparation for elderly people (existing dataset)
Dr Sophia Rainbird BA (Hons), PhD Anthropology
Research Fellow in Cultural Anthropology 
S.Rainbird@cqu.edu.au
Sophia is a cultural anthropologist with interests in the themes of risk, resilience and safety in the rail industry
and also in forced migration. Projects and topics include:
• Advocacy for asylum seekers and refugees in Australia
• Refugee settlement services in South Australia
• Refugees, asylum seekers and forced migration
• Asylum policy and border protection
Dr Bradley Smith BPsych (Hons), PhD
Research Fellow in Human and Animal Psychology
B.P.Smith@cqu.edu.au
Brad is a psychologist and animal behaviourist with specific interest and experience in cognitive psychology
(of both human and non-human animals). He is also interested in the relationships between humans and
companion animals. Projects and topics include:
• Managing animals in natural disasters
• Effects of physical activity, sleep deprivation, and heat on cognition (existing dataset)
• Canine cognition and behaviour
• Human-animal interaction, including pets and co-sleeping

Dr Kirrilly Thompson B Soc Sci (Hons), PhD Anthropology
Research Fellow in Cultural Anthropology 
Kirrilly.Thompson@cqu.edu.au
Kirrilly is a cultural anthropologist with varied research experience. Her interests coalesce around human-
animal interactions and the socio-cultural dimensions of risk. Kirrilly is experienced in the use of qualitative
research techniques ranging from questionnaires, through semi-structured interviews and focus groups to
ethnographic immersion. Topics include:
• Human-animal interaction, including pets and co-sleeping
• Pets and food waste: What do pet feeding practices tell us about human-animal relations?
• The impact of animal attachment on planning and early evacuation during Natural Disasters
• Investigating relationships between animal attachment and risk taking in high-risk interspecies sports (racing, eventing, etc)
*As Sophia’s PhD is in anthropology, students working on these projects
will be allocated a co-supervisor with a PhD in Psychology.
*As Kirrilly’s PhD is in anthropology, students
working on these projects will be allocated a
co-supervisor with a PhD in Psychology.

The following is a brief summary of project areas available...
Sleep, Fatigue and Circadian Rhythms
The Appleton Institute is internationally renowned for its research in sleep, fatigue and
circadian rhythms. In January 2013 we opened a brand new 6-bed sleep laboratory.
We bring a multi-disciplinary approach to our work as we have backgrounds in psychology,
physiology and economics. Over the last 10 years we have conducted numerous projects in
laboratory-, simulator-, and field-based settings. For example, we have examined the impact
of sleep restriction (4h sleep/day for 10 days) on anger, trust, and happiness; the effects of fatigue on the decision-making of long-
haul pilots in jumbo jet simulators; and the effects of early-morning training sessions on the amount of sleep obtained by Olympic
swimmers. Students involved in these types of projects can:
• Apply for a $1500 Honours Scholarship
• Work in a team environment with honours/PhD students, research assistants and senior staff
• Gain valuable experience in administering cognitive tests and interacting with study participants
• Present and submit their work as a paper at a national conference (Australasian Chronobiology Society)
Staff offering projects in the area of sleep, fatigue and circadian rhythms include:
Professor Drew Dawson Professor Sally Ferguson Associate Professor Greg Roach Dr. Charli Sargent
Dr. David Darwent Dr. Xuan Zhou Dr. Jessica Paterson Dr. Bradley Smith
Paediatric Sleep
Sarah Blunden is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Appleton Institute, specialising in Paediatric sleep.
She has spent the past 10 years researching, treating and lecturing on children’s sleep both nationally and
internationally, as well as delivering education and information sessions to the community, educators and
health care professionals. Sarah is recognised as an authority on children’s sleep and is widely published in the
field. Staff offering projects in the area of Paediatric sleep include:
Associate Professor Sarah Blunden
Human Factors & Occupational Health and Safety
Human Factors centres on studying people at work in order to understand workplace
behaviour and human error, and to achieve enhancements to safety and productivity. At the
core of this, is effective system design, including personnel and their training, equipment
and machinery, and the working environment itself. Human Factors is multi-disciplinary and
combines psychology, engineering, ergonomics, management and industrial design. Our
research in this area includes:
• Safety-case from Driver Only Operations. Honours project will involve researching train driver psychology, mental models, and
undertaking qualitative analysis to compare operation in different modes.
• Coordinated decision making in bushfires
• Pressures that lead outback pilots to make poor decisions
• Biases in supervisor’s risk assessments
• A closer examination of goal seduction and situation aversion
Staff offering projects in the area of Human Factors & Occupational Health and Safety include:
Professor Drew Dawson Professor Sally Ferguson Dr. Anjum Naweed
Dr. Chris Bearman Dr. Jessica Paterson
Human-Animal Interaction and Animal Behaviour
The study of non-human animals, and the way we interact with them is an exciting field of
research that has developed rapidly over the past decades. The Appleton Institute has this
multidisciplinary field covered! Dr Bradley Smith, a psychologist with a specialisation in animal
behaviour, focuses on understanding the causes, functions, development, and evolution of
behaviour in non-human animals. As a trained anthropologist, Dr Kirrilly Thompson considers
the importance of animals in human lives and human behaviours, values, attitudes and beliefs
around animals.
Staff offering projects in the area of human-animal interaction and animal behaviour include:
Dr. Bradley Smith Dr. Kirrilly Thompson

A/Prof. Sarah Blunden
BAPsych (Hons) MAPS MSocSc, PhD
Head of Paediatric Sleep Research
CQUniversity Adelaide - The Appleton Institute
08 8378 4513
S.Blunden@cqu.edu.au
Sarah is a clinical psychologist and Head of Paediatric Sleep Research at
the new Adelaide campus of CentralQueenslandUniversity, The Appleton
Institute, Director of the Paediatric Sleep Clinic and founding Director of the
Australian Centre for Education in Sleep (www.sleepeducation.net.au).
A/Prof. Sarah BlundenDancing Boss of your Sleep
Dancing at the World Famous Moulin Rouge in Paris...
I started out in the workforce as a performer. First I was a ballet dancer
and danced with the Australian Ballet, before moving to the UK
and then France, dancing with the London Festival Ballet and Ballet
Classique de Paris.
I moved into contemporary dance, and worked with several
contemporary dance companies in Paris and New York, before moving
into musical theatre, with singing contracts, modelling and even dancing
at the world famous Moulin Rouge in Paris.
I brought back a Frenchman...
Twelve years later - well, a dancer’s working life is short - age and a weary
body led me to return to Australia. But, I brought back a Frenchman with
me and we decided to start a family.
When our daughter was school-aged, I started studying at University, and after 9 years of full-time study I had studied
Psychology and French, had a PhD and started to specialise in sleep research in children.
Does this mean I will get a holiday...?
The next 10 years kept me extremely busy - I set up a Paediatric Sleep Clinic to
treat sleep problems in infants, children and adolescents. In 2014 this clinic is
still going strong. It’s successful, has a 4-month waiting list for patients, and we
are now employing 2 other psychologists - does this mean I will get a holiday?
I started a Sleep Education Centre to promote sleep education in people of all
ages - infants, parents, schools - you can find this on my website at:
www.sleepeducation.net.au
I worked as a researcher at Flinders University in chronic conditions, UniSA in
sleep research and now at CQUniversity Adelaide as Director of Paediatric Sleep Research. I still work 3 days a week
at the University, and 2 days at the clinic, with all the students being supervised for both, somewhere in the middle! I
have written lots of papers, attended and spoken at lots of conferences, and even won a few awards.
Oh, and I also co-authored two books about sleep in young children - see
www.sensiblesleepsolution.com & www.snoozeforkids.com
Working in the community and sharing the love...
I am fully a part of the Sleep Research Community, so I am also chair
of the Indigenous Sleep Working Party of the ASA (Australasian Sleep
Association), as well as Chair of the Sleep Guidelines Working Party,
and the Paediatric and Psychology representative on the Education
committee of the ASA.
Sarah supervises clinical and research students in psychology and
teaches courses including PSYC20035 (Ethics & Professional Issues in
Psychology).

Being a researcher was as close as I could get to being a “girl
detective...”
When I was a kid, I read all the Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew books. Living in rural
Queensland in the 70s and early 80s, Trixie and Nancy were the most interesting,
independent, and adventurous female role models. They were the only people I
‘knew’who were like me – I liked to write stories and make up games for my sister to
play and find bugs and build dams and find out about new things. Now I’m a grown
up (sometimes), I still love girl detectives. And I still love writing and reading and
discovering new things. I started my psychology degree after friends told me I was a
good listener.
My grandfather and great grandfather worked in the coal mines in Wales...
I grew up in a house with a long history of political action – When my great grandfather was seriously injured at
work and lost his job he later became a member of the union and the Communist Party, as did my grandfather. After
coming to Australia they were still heavily involved in worker’s politics. My father talks about meeting Jack Mundy, the
New South Wales unionist famous for the green bans against uranium in the 80s. He remembers sitting in the front
of the car between him and my grandfather, with my grandfather’s hands over his ears to block out all the swearing.
When I started my PhD at Adelaide Uni I was lucky to meet other psychologists who wanted to use their education
and skills to challenge social injustice and exclusion.
I started my doctorate during the time of the new laws against
asylum seekers...
As the tide of public opinion turned even more strongly against asylum seekers
and Hanson’s far right party was gaining traction, I wanted to know how we could
challenge this tough political climate. I became particularly interested in how
people in everyday situations like conversations with friends and family can be
an integral part of challenging racism. I started to write papers on how this works,
particularly with a view to more peaceful and productive dialogues between people
that avoid insults and shaming.
Local children and children from the detention centre became friends...
This focus on social justice has since expanded to Indigenous housing and health, homelessness and disaster
resilience, and education and employment for refugees. My favourite piece of research was a social impact
assessment of the immigration detention facility in the Adelaide Hills. Talking to residents and asylum seekers there
was incredibly challenging – how could we bring together such oppositional views? But over time we saw the
community changing, especially as local children and those from the detention centre became friends. There was a
ripple effect outward from the schools thanks to the efforts of the staff, the parents and the children, which spread
throughout the school.
I try to give students the learning experience that I hoped for...
Its really important to me to take all these experiences into my teaching. My social psychology course is designed
to be transformative and experiential. Its about developing critical thinking skills and self-
awareness, working towards being inclusive practitioners and ethical researchers. Everything
I do there is about opening our eyes to what is habitual and invisible, and looking at ourselves
and the world from a new perspective. I try to give students the learning experience I had
hoped for when I was studying psychology.
Danielle supervises research students in psychology and teaches Social Psychology
(PSYC12014).
Dr. Danielle EverySocial Psychologist Girl Detective
Dr. Danielle Every
B.Psych, PhD (University of Adelaide)
Research Fellow in Social Psychology
Adelaide Campus - The Appleton Institute
08 8378 4521
D.Every@cqu.edu.au
Danielle is a social psychologist in the areas of social change, social
inclusion and social justice. She specialises in research on the language of
advocacy and anti-racism, the social impacts of immigration, and work,
education and health for refugees and asylum seekers.
Danielle’s 40th
Birthday
Saturday 20th July @ 7.30pm
Bliss Organic Cafe
Compton Street, Adelaide
BYO
Please no gifts! RSPCA donations welcome!

Dr Anjum Naweed
BSc MSc PhD (University of Sheffield)
Human Factors and Safety Systems
08 8378 4520
Anjum.Naweed@cqu.edu.au
Anjum’s research focuses on complex decision-making, knowledge
representation, collision avoidance, display design, and work health and
safety. He has experience with a broad range of qualitative and quantitative
research methods and is interested in all aspects of human factors, ergonomics,
workplace culture, and the relationship between humans and machines.
Dr Anjum Naweed
Human Factors Sharpshooter
As a child I was inquisitive and flighty...
Some would say that I suffered from a deplorable excess of imagination. My mum says that
the first word I ever spoke was“Jhaaz,”which is Urdu for“Airplane.”My dad, an electrician, used
to take me to work with him, and I have distinct memories of him weaving wires through
the hollow walls and gutted floorboards of empty houses. He would strategise their optimal
pathways and overcome obstacles with tools of his own design. It was a great display of skill
and my first real brush with human factors in the field.
At school I did very well in English, Art, and Graphic design. I was hopeless at maths but really
enjoyed science. I wrote short stories, devoured books, and was very fond of Roald Dahl. I was
a school librarian for four years, something for which I got teased endlessly, but I didn’t mind. The Dewey-Decimal
system was my concubine.
I started hankering after research...
I took Psychology in College and liked it so much I decided to do it at undergraduate
level. It wasn’t entirely what I expected it to be, but the magic happened in the third year
when I did my honours project. I used a car simulator to understand how engine sound
influenced speed choices. That was the beginning of a real fascination for human factors
and while everyone else was making a beeline for Clinical, I started hankering after research.
I decided to do a Masters in Psychological Research Methods and extended my honours
project into a thesis. Around that time I did a number of temping jobs: I worked for a rail
passengers council, a rail-engineering consultancy, and a rail logistics group. Rail seemed
to be following me wherever I went. Immediately after my Masters, I fell into a Research Assistant
role. I was the right person at the right place at entirely the right time, and the job involved
investigating alarms and alerts in trains around the UK. Rail yet again. Resistance was clearly
futile and I fell in love with it the first time I saw it from a train driver’s perspective. There it was, a
meticulously laid gauge, weaving through the world as far as the eye could see.
A PhD in human factors was inevitable...
At Sheffield University, I did just that. An eminent cognitive psychologist - Donald Broadbent had supervised my own
Supervisor – it was a name I knew well, having first come across it in College. I felt the kiss of fate and was excited
to be part of this lineage, this‘stock.’My PhD investigated train driver psychology, and I used a simulator to research
how information could be designed to improve how trains were driven. I loved doing the research, and in my spare
time, learned Archery. I wasn’t a very sporty person, but something about archery really appealed – the idea of all that
energy stored into a form that was so still and poised struck my imagination. Turns out I was quite good at it too. Just
after submitting my thesis, I happened across a research fellow position that involved working with a rail simulator in
South Australia. The position had been written for me, the interview panel agreed, fate gave me another peck on the
cheek, and in 2010, I relocated.
I make it a point to inject creativity into my work...
Flash-forward four years and I am a Senior Research Fellow, firmly part of the simulation and
human factors communities in the Asia-Pacific. I am also chair of a human factor Special Interest
Group for transport and I work quite closely with the Australian Centre for Rail Innovation. I’m
still a keen archer and still aim for gold. I never stopped writing stories and have
started to publish some of them too. I make it a point to inject creativity into my work
in any way that I can. I’ve written papers in the style of Sherlock Holmes case studies
and I have this thing about trying to embed them with references to popular culture. I
have a number of writing voices in my head. The most treasured is Roald Dahl.
Anjum supervises research students in human factors and safety systems.

Dr. Jessica PatersonOne T Psychologist
Dr. Jessica Paterson
B.Psych (Hons) UniSA
Adelaide Campus
Jessica.Paterson@cqu.edu.au
(08) 8378 4519
Jess completed her PhD in Psychology in 2010 investigating the consequences of sleep
loss and shift work for mood regulation. Since then, she has conducted multiple research
andconsultingprojectswiththehealthcare,transportandmanufacturingindustries.Jess
is interested in the experience of fatigue, workplace culture and psychosocial wellbeing
for health care workers and in the relationship between sleep and mental illness.
The women in my family have always had the dark gift of secret
keeping...
From a young age, friends, acquaintances and even perfect strangers seemed to want to
confide their deepest, darkest secrets in me. This made me curious about, and gave me
insight into, the differences between what you see on the surface of an individual and what
lurks beneath. Getting paid to hear people’s secrets seemed a natural step so I began a
Psychology degree at UniSA.
It sounded completely awful and totally fascinating - like Big
Brother...
At the beginning of studying Honours in Psychology I attended a presentation of
research projects that students could take part in for the research component of the
year. One of the projects involved locking young adults in a windowless laboratory
for ten days. Participants were kept awake for 66h and then given only 6h sleep per
night for a week. It sounded completely awful and totally fascinating. It sounded like
Big Brother. I was intrigued. I ran the study for my Honours year project and fell in love
with sleep research. So, for beginning my career in sleep research, I owe equal thanks
to Gretel Killeen and George Orwell I suppose.
I overcame my crippling fear of hospitals...
Doing my PhD was a weird and wonderful time in my life. I overcame my crippling
fear of hospitals to investigate sleep loss for midwives and I spent a lot of time
working in the light- and sound-controlled laboratory sleep depriving young adults.
In my time off, I worked as a DJ in light- and sound-controlled nightclubs sleep
depriving myself. I travelled around the world to talk about my research and I lived
and worked in Sydney and Brooklyn, NYC. I eventually settled back in Adelaide to
finish my thesis and look for a post-doctoral fellowship. I bought a little sausage dog
and named him Hans van Doggy after an eminent sleep researcher in my field, Hans
van Dongen. I was that committed to the nerd-life.
I’m particularly passionate about helping health care workers
and young adults to manage fatigue...
As much as I enjoyed the lab-based part of my PhD, it was the fieldwork that I really loved. After the PhD, I received a
fellowship to investigate fatigue in rail workers and extended this to other workgroups including miners, health care
workers, and young adults in the workplace.
I still do research with all kinds of workers, and am particularly passionate
about helping health care workers and young adults to
manage fatigue at work, at home, and when driving. When
I’m not teaching, researching or (still) working as a DJ, I’m
either reading, running, trying to teach Hans to drive or
obsessing over/shopping for Danish mid-century modern
furniture.
Jess supervises research students and teaches courses
including PSYC12012 (Physiological Psychology) and
PSYC13017 (Abnormal Psychology).

Dr. Bradley SmithHuman Animal Psychologist-Photographer
I can’t remember exactly why I chose to study psychology, but I’m
glad I did!
As a high school graduate wanting to go to university, I knew two things: I was curious
about how the world worked, but I wasn’t any good at the hard sciences like physics and
chemistry. Psychology became an attractive option because it offered an English based,
but scientific approach to understanding how people and animals interact with the world
and each other.
I was captivated by the study of animal behaviour and cognition...
During my undergraduate degree, I wasn’t entirely sure where psychology would take
me, until I took a subject called‘Learning and comparative psychology’taught by animal behaviour expert, Dr. Carla
Litchfield. During this course I was captivated by the study of animal behaviour and cognition. For my honours year
when I had the opportunity to select a supervisor and project, I approached Carla who enthusiastically agreed to
supervise me. A defining moment was visiting the Adelaide Zoo with Carla, and being asked what species I wanted
to study. What an opportunity! Since that moment I have developed a healthy obsession with trying to understand
the behaviour of non-human animals, particularly how they see and think about the world, as well as the relationship
they have with us.
I’ve worked with Sealions, Gorillas, Dogs and Dingoes...
Since then I have had the opportunity to work with a number of different species, including
sealions, gorillas, dogs and dingoes. I have developed a particular interest in dingoes,
Australia’s wild dog, which was the subject of my PhD. Most of my research with dingoes
involves putting them through their‘cognitive paces’by presenting them with a series of
puzzles and problems that they need to solve (e.g. the detour task-see image). The main
outcomes of having done this is the confirmation that dingoes are unique in terms of
Australian animals and canids across the world, and that there are many differences between
domestic dogs and their wild ancestors, the wolf.
My photography has made it to the cover of magazines like Australian Geographic...
Working with dingoes has been extremely rewarding, and lead to exciting opportunities, discoveries and experiences.
I get to travel the world and interact with both wild and captive animals; I regularly give radio and television
interviews on my research; I was the first to report tool use and response to the death of an infant in the canid species;
I enjoy taking photographs of animals, some of which have appeared on the covers of magazines like Australian
Geographic; I have become a director of the Australian Dingo Foundation; and I have just written a book with CSIRO
publishing relating to the history, behaviour and conservation of the dingo.
Brad supervises research students and teaches courses including
PSYC11008 (Biological Foundations of Psychology).
Dr. Bradley Smith
B.Psych, PhD (University of South Australia)
Research Fellow in Human and Animal Psychology
Adelaide Campus - The Appleton Institute
08 8378 4528
B.P.Smith@cqu.edu.au
Brad holds a PhD in animal behaviour. His research focused on
behaviour and cognition in captive dingoes. He remains actively
involved in research projects concerning animal behaviour.

Dr. Xuan Zhou
BSc (Hons) PhD (University of South Australia)
Research Fellow - The Appleton Institute
Adelaide Campus
08 8378 4525
X.Zhou@cqu.edu.au
Xuan is a research fellow at CQUniversity’s Appleton Institute. Xuan
obtained his PhD in Behavioural Sciences from the University of
South Australia in 2012. His research focuses on the effects of sleep/
wake patterns on people’s cognitive performance (e.g. response
time) and subjective states (e.g., subjective sleepiness; mood).
Dr. Xuan Zhou(Evil?) Twin Scientist
I came to Australia from China with my twin brother...
I came to Australia from China in the early 2000s with my twin brother, Ang Zhou.
We both went to the University of Adelaide. I studied Psychology, and my brother
studied Biomedical Science. We also both went on to complete PhDs in our
respective field.
Our parents chose Australia for us to study so that we would get a good
University education with good opportunities for career development.
I developed a strong interest in research in general...
At the start of my undergraduate degree, I took subjects in psychology,
management and marketing, hoping to eventually become an organisational
psychologist. I quickly realised, however that, organisational psychology
did not interest me that much. Instead, I developed a strong interest in just
doing research in general - I found that I could manage to get very good
marks for research reports in subjects that I didn’t even like. So, I started to
wonder if research could be my career path.
In a summer scholarship program, I was lucky enough to do a small
research project that looked at the sleep/wake patterns of surgeons. Renee
Petrilli, who was my tutor and at the time studying for a PhD in sleep and
fatigue, introduced me to the sleep research laboratory run by Professor
Drew Dawson. After that, I went on to do my Psychology Honours project in
sleep research, followed by a PhD and now post doc research.
We cut subjects off from daylight and the real world, to
see how their ‘body clock’ operates by itself...
For my PhD, I was extremely lucky to get involved in a novel project that examines the influences of sleep dose, prior
wake and internal body clock on people’s cognitive performance. These factors are fundamental to the influence of
our daily sleep/wake patterns on our cognitive abilities. But because of the nature of these factors, their influences
are usually tangled together. The aim of my PhD project was to disentangle their influences, using a novel protocol
so called‘sleep-restricted forced desynchrony’. This involves cutting subjects off from daylight and all time cues in
the real world, to see how their‘body clock’runs on its own. The project has important implications for modelling the
impact of sleep/wake patterns on performance.
I have been to many national and international sleep conferences to talk about my
PhD research, including some in Europe and the USA. For my post-doc,
I have been working on a project which is an extension from
my PhD research. Specifically, we are looking at the impact of
splitting a single daily sleep period into two shorter periods,
on people’s cognitive performance. Once again, the project is
novel and has important implications.
I also recently became quite interested in Mathematics, and
hope to take time off to complete a degree in Maths and
Statistics in the near future.
Xuan supervises students in psychology and teaches courses
including PSYC13020 - Individual Differences and Assessment.

Tessa BenvenistePhD Student - Languages and Learning
Tessa Benveniste
BSc (Hons)
08 8378 4525
T.Benveniste@cqu.edu.au
Tessa is working on her PhD in Social Psychology, focusing on the
experiences and outcomes of boarding school for remote Indigenous
Australian students, their families and communities.
My two favourite subjects were Japanese and French...
My story probably begins at school when my two favourite subjects were
Japanese and French. What interested me in them was not only the fun
of learning new alphabets and words, but learning about how people
around the world had different customs and beliefs and ways of doing or
interpreting things. This extended into a lifelong love of travel.
I loved science, and people...
Alongside the interest in language and culture, I loved science, and
people, and aspired to be a doctor. This desire took me all the way through
a Medical Science degree, but it was in these years that I began to realise
my interest in physical sciences was fading. Upon completing my degree
I began to re-consider my options and spent some time away from
university life.
I began studying Psychology to escape the Woolworths
checkout...
This didn’t last long, after 6 months I was itching to learn again, so I began studying
Psychology to escape the Woolworths checkout. Almost immediately, a passion
was ignited for a field that had so many different aspects and avenues to explore.
In particular I became interested in how little I (and the general population) knew
about Indigenous Australians, their histories, perspectives and their cultural beliefs.
But what could I do with the interest? The new goal was clinical masters, not
research!
I came to do my honours degree at the Appleton Institute...
I came to do my honours degree at the Appleton Institute and was quickly
convinced that‘research’as I had originally imagined it (people chained to
their desk or lab in a dingy office with no social life), looked very different in
this environment! So somehow, I am now halfway through my PhD in Social
Psychology, focusing on the experiences and outcomes of boarding school for
remote Indigenous Australian students, their families and communities. This
allows me to read interesting articles, challenge myself, talk to people, travel to
remote Australia, learn a new language (Pitjantjatjara) and have a supportive and
fun work environment. Lucky me!
I get as far away from the desk as
possible...
In my spare time, I get as far away from the desk as
possible. Nature, friends, travel and animals are my
favourite things, even better if they can be combined!
In particular I love riding horses and getting on the
ski slopes. Also completely in love with my Golden
Retriever Cooper, who joins me for beach walks when
he isn’t smothering me with cuddles.

Hayley EthertonPhD Student - Sleep/Kids
Hayley Etherton
BPsych (Hons)
08 8378 4530
H.Etherton@cqu.edu.au
Hayley’s research investigates sleep and settling strategies for young children,
aiming to help parents get the information they need, and help children get the
sleep they need.
I was always asking questions…
From a young age I loved to ask questions. What’s that? How does it work? Why does it do that? Why
won’t it do this? Who says so? My parents encouraged this, although I wonder if they sometimes
regretted it!
This thing called ‘psychology’…
When I was around 10 years old I learned of‘psychology’– the study of people and asking how and
why they did the things that they did. Bingo! This sounded utterly fascinating and wonderful to me
and I knew that’s where I wanted to go. Although I had a good idea of what I wanted to do in those
early days, I was not single-mindedly focused on just that. My curiosity and love of learning about
anything and everything had me float across many interests while at school, although they often
related to science, animals and humanities.
Then life throws you a curve ball…
Unfortunately during high school things started to spiral downward for me and I soon found that I needed to leave
school prematurely. As someone who was always academically successful and saw their
life as following paths requiring additional education, this was a major set-back.
There’s always another way!
Luckily I was able to pick myself back up after a break and my natural enthusiasm for
learning kicked in again. My interest in psychology and desire to help others was stronger
than ever and I learned I could complete a year-long university bridging program
to gain entry to university. I was thrilled to be learning again and achieved a high
GPA across the year giving me entry into a coveted 4-year psychology program with
honours. I had made it!
My ever evolving future…
Although I always planned to go onto Masters in Clinical Psychology, by third year my
interest in research was growing. Attending an information session about summer
research scholarship opportunities at the Centre for Sleep Research (UniSA) led to a
cascade of opportunities, including travelling to the APY Lands in central Australia,
a summer research scholarship, my honours project and supervisors, conference
presentations, research assistant work and now my PhD. The people I connected with, many of whom are also now at
CQU’s Appleton Institute, have had the biggest impact on my learning and opportunities for which I am very grateful. I
am now in a position where I am able and encouraged to follow my passions of digging deeper
into issues and helping others.
One of my biggest personal passions is learning about dog behaviour and training, which
started after we got our first Rhodesian Ridgeback, Ollie, and I took him to training classes.
I now volunteer at the same centre helping other people train their dogs… and our second
Ridgeback, Kya, too now! Other interests and adventures have included scuba diving, sailing
trips, motorbike riding, motorsport, horse riding, travelling and learning Spanish.
My PhD is investigating community views on common sleep practises for young children
with the aim of developing recommendations for improving information and service delivery
based on parents’needs. The project can be found at www.facebook.com/sleepandsettling.
I am supported by the CQUniversity HEALTH CRN www.cqu.edu.au/crn and the Australian
Government’s Collaborative Research Networks Program via a PhD scholarship, exchange
program funding and professional development workshops.

Accept failure as part of the journey...
Throughout my life I have failed at many things. From high school, pursuing a football
career, through to just missing out on getting into Honours in Adelaide. During high school,
I dedicated most of my time to training, and very little time to study - and as a result my
education suffered. Shortly after being offered my first professional football contract at the age
of 16, I suffered a knee injury which required two surgeries within the space of six months. As a
result, my contract was terminated and I was left to pick up the pieces. Following a ten-month
rehabilitation period, I regained fitness and went on trial with three top division football clubs,
with the third club sending me to a 6th division club to monitor my progress. The following
year, I signed for a 5th division club, only to have my contracted terminated again after six
months for no other reason than having too many players on the register (‘in other words, not
good enough’).
I decided to move back home and start studying...
Having left school in year 12, I had to complete a Diploma of University Studies to gain entry. I completed the Diploma
and was able to start my Bachelor of Psychology. I graduated from my Bachelor in 2008, only to miss out on gaining
entry into Honours in Adelaide by 2%. Luckily, I was accepted into the University of the Sunshine Coast where I moved
for a year. During my time on the Sunshine Coast I worked extremely hard and graduated with 1st Class Honours. This
hard work was rewarded as I was awarded an APA scholarship and was able to move back home to complete my PhD.
Sleep is one of my favourite pastimes...
As a kid, I used to sleep standing with my head on the kitchen table, so it only
seemed natural that I research sleep. On a serious note, sleep impacts everything
we do, and can influence our mood, motivation, reactions to situations and how
well we perform.
I have always been interested in human behaviour...
Questions like, why do people behave the way they do? What motivates us? Why
are some people successful and others not? Why are some people resilient and
others not? have always been on my mind. Psychology is such a broad field which
provides a lot of freedom to research and study things you are interested in. As a
result, the chance of becoming bored is minimal.
Football has taught me many lessons...
Football has taught me many lessons which I have always applied to other
aspects of my life. It has enabled me to see parts of the world to which I
may not have ever had the opportunity to see. It has brought great joy
and happiness, and also, pain and suffering. But, without, there is no
opportunity to grow and prosper. I have represented and captained South
Australia at every age level including Seniors. I have also represented
Australia on three tours including World Cup Qualifiers in Qatar, Asian
Games, and for the opening Ceremony for the FIFA Beach Soccer World
cup in Tahiti. I currently captain Western Strikers in the SAPL.
Michele currently teaches courses including PSYC12010 (Introduction
to Lifespan Development) and PSYC11009 (Social Foundations of
Psychology).
Michele LastellaPhD Student - Sleep/Sports
Michele Lastella
B. Psych (Hons)
PhD Candidate - The Appleton Institute
08 8378 4536
M.Lastella@cqu.edu.au
Michele is currently in the final stages of completing his PhD in Psychology
investigating the stressors that impact the sleep/wake behaviour of elite athletes.

As young girl I wanted to be an explorer...
I wanted to fearlessly travel the globe to“discover”and learn all about different lands, people, and
cultures. The pioneering lives and stories of Nancy Bird-Walton, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Calamity Jane,
and Amelia Earhart interested me greatly. On weekends and after school, my sister and I would
make treasure maps, explore and pretend we had discovered the fields and parklands near our
home, and we’d always climb to the highest point of the playground – to then
jump off it. I’d often write tales about our adventures at school, and developed a
love for learning new things and writing.
These days I still have my adventurous and curious nature, and enjoy my PhD
because it allows me to explore, write, and discover new things.
Food was a central and important part of life...
I grew up in a typical Greek-Australian household, where food was a central and
important part of life. I have fond memories of my Yia yia (Grandma) and Mum
sharing and teaching me how to cook our traditional family recipes. However,
learning at an early age that many people don’t have enough food to eat, while my
family had plenty troubled me greatly. I knew that no matter what career I chose
I wanted to be able to help reduce hunger and poverty in some way. So when I
started my university degree I chose to major in Sociology and Health Education
because they allowed me to explore, study, and write about food, culture, and
poverty. I tailored my various essays to explore food-related topics from hunger and
food insecurity, to cultural foods and globalisation.
I came across a newspaper article...
In the third year of my studies, I came across a newspaper article about a new
research project on food waste. I was so interested in the study that I decided to
write an essay on the social and environmental problems of food waste. It was
around this time that I seriously began to consider a career in research. I worked
very hard, did really well in my studies, and hoped that one day I’d be able to work on
a similar project.
Fast-forward two years later - I had finished my undergraduate and honours degrees,
with first class results, and started looking for PhD opportunities. I received an email
that a PhD scholarship on food waste had come available. So I applied for it, got accepted, and then later realised
that my PhD was actually part of that same food waste project I had read about back in third year – it was a happy
coincidence.
Now that I’m well into my “PhD adventure...”
I have found that it fuels my curiosity and love for learning new things. My
project is on food redistribution networks and I am conducting qualitative
research with the food rescue organisation OzHarvest. OzHarvest is a non-
for-profit organisation that picks up excess food from restaurants, cafes,
supermarkets etc… and delivers it to charities that feed people in need. I love
that my project is not only furthering my knowledge about food waste, hunger
and poverty, but by working closely with OzHarvest my project has the practical
purpose of evaluating and potentially improving their work.
Like most adventures, my PhD is a challenging, but very rewarding experience.
When I’m not researching, writing, or teaching, you’ll find me doing one of my more action-packed adventures, such
as flying aeroplanes, scuba diving, archery, or solo skydiving.
Elisha VlaholiasPhD Student - Flying with Food
Elisha Vlaholias
BA, BA (Hons)
PhD Candidate - The Appleton Institute
08 8378 4539
E.Vlaholias@cqu.edu.au
Elisha’s research investigates the socio-cultural experiences of giving and receiving
food through Australian food redistribution networks. Her research includes how the
attitudes and motives of the food industry donors and the needs of the recipients
might impact each other.

Natalie Muldoon
Honours Psychology 2013
Natalie Muldoon
Honours Psychology, The Appleton Institute 2013
I wanted to work with people...
“I chose Psychology at CQUniversity because I wanted to work
with people, help people and have a general fascination with
how people think.”
The Appleton Institute provides an exciting
change from the traditional university
experience....
In 2013 I completed my fourth year in Psychology (Honours) at
CQUniversity Adelaide - The Appleton Institute.
My honours project was part of a forced desynchrony study -
where participants are kept in the sleep lab for about 10 days,
without any cues to daylight, time or the outside world. This is
to see how their internal body clock deals with sleep loss and
fatigue. My thesis looked at whether self-appraisal can help
mitigate fatigue related risk.
Surrounded by a dedicated team of career researchers and PhD
students, Honours students are invited to become active team
members in one of the many scientific studies running in newly
built, state of the art facilities.
Career-minded students, or those wishing to improve their chances of entry to postgraduate courses, will find
that opportunities are always available for students to present their work at national conferences and to author or
contribute to manuscripts published in books and peer-reviewed journals.
The culture, expertise, and opportunities that exist at the Appleton
Institute provide an ideal environment where individuals can transition
from undergraduate students to aspiring young professionals.
I am currently completing my first year of the
CQUniversity Masters of Clinical Psychology...
I am currently completing my first year of the CQUniversity Masters
of Clinical Psychology course. I have spent the last year completing
an internship at the University Wellness Centre seeing a range of
clients from children who have experienced trauma to women dealing
with separation. My second year of the Masters program will involve
working in Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation
and the Rockhampton Hospital Mental Health in-patient unit. I will
also be taking on a thesis, looking at active ageing as a component to
improving the quality of life for individuals with dementia.
Following the Masters course I want to gain as much experience as possible in a variety of areas, such as aged-care
and rehabilitation, and work with a range of diverse clients, such as Aboriginal Australians and athletes.

Dr. Kathy Reid - Northwestern University, Chicago, USA
PhD 1998 - Supervisor: Prof. Drew Dawson
Kathy was one of the first Centre for Sleep Research PhD students, working on the effects of sleep
loss on performance in some of the early sleep deprivation studies conducted at the University
of Adelaide. This lead to the now very well-known Nature paper which equated a night of sleep
loss to the performance effects of being at the legal limit for blood-alcohol (Dawson & Reid,
1997). Kathy moved to the USA and now works at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern
University in Chicago. Her research interests are aimed at gaining a greater understanding of the
relationship between the sleep and circadian systems with health and safety.
Dr. Cameron van den Heuvel - University of Adelaide
Cam was one of the first Centre for Sleep Research PhD students, looking at thermoregulation in
some of the early sleep studies conducted at the University of Adelaide. After working as a Post
Doctoral Researcher at the University of South Australia and University of Adelaide, Cam now
works as Senior Research Grants Officer at the University of Adelaide. Literally millions of dollars
worth of grant applications cross his desk every year, and he is responsible for supporting the
University researchers through the process of gaining competitive funding.
Dr. Alex Holmes - Clockwork Research, London
Alex completed her PhD in 2003 on the effects of shiftwork and sleep loss on cardiovascular health,
and now works as Research Director for Clockwork Research in the UK - a fatigue management
consultancy assisting aviation operators and other safety-critical organisations to develop and
implement Fatigue Risk Management Systems. Alex works with all types of companies across
Europe and beyond, to help manage and reduce the risk of fatigue in their employees, and thus
improve safety and efficiency.
Dr. Tracey Sletten - Monash University, Melbourne
PhD 2007 - Supervisor: Prof. Drew Dawson / Associate Professor Greg Roach
Tracey completed her PhD in 2007 on fatigue in aviation, looking at crew rest facilities and how
flight crew are able to get sleep during flights and different flight schedules. After working as a
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Surrey in the UK, Tracey returned to Australia, and
now works as a Research Fellow at the Sleep and Circadian Medicine Laboratory in the School of
Psychological Sciences at Monash University in Melbourne.
Dr. Kirsty McCulloch - The Keil Centre, Adelaide
Kirsty completed her PhD in 2005, and now works in Australia as a Principal Human Factors
Advisor at the Keil Centre. She is considered a world expert in fatigue risk management, and her
methods have been adopted as regulatory models in several industries, across multiple countries.
Kirsty also has extensive experience in understanding human failure, human factors in incident
investigation, task analysis, critical procedure reviews and safety culture. She has worked in many
safety-critical industries, including petroleum, mining, power generation, medicine, emergency
services, transport, and manufacturing.
Our Student AlumniSome of the past students Supervised by Appleton Institute Staff...
Staff at the Appleton Institute have supervised students for Honours, Masters and PhD degrees in
Psychology, Physiology and Human Factors.
These students have gone on to further study and to employment in Australia and overseas in other
Universities, Government Departments, Consulting Companies......

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