Dr Maria Gardani (PhD)
Deputy Director for Research - Research Ethics and Research Integrity

Contact details
Address
- Street
-
Room 1.04m, Doorway 6
Elsie Inglis Quad
Old Medical School, Teviot Place
Edinburgh - City
- Post code
Background
I have joined the School of Health in Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh as a Lecturer in Clinical Psychology in October 2021.
Prior to that I was a Lecturer in Psychology at the School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow (2015-2021) and a Lecturer in the DClinPsy programme at the University of Glasgow (2014-2015). During my first post-doctoral fellowship I have worked at the University of Glasgow Sleep Center under the mentorship of Prof Jason G. Ellis investigating the transition from acute to chronic insomnia. Following that, I investigated the sleep and circadian difficulties in people after traumatic brain injury and stroke.
I was a sleep and research consultant for the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust unit in Glasgow (2015-2017) and worked closely with the multidisciplinary team to develop education resources regarding sleep following Acquired Brain Injury.
Qualifications
MA (Hons) Psychology, University of Glasgow
Ph.D. Psychology, University of Glasgow
Responsibilities & affiliations
Research Committee Leader for British Sleep Society (https://www.sleepsociety.org.uk/)
Board of Trustee for Sleep Scotland. (https://sleepscotland.org/about-us/our-board/)
Member of the U21 University Mental Health Group (https://u21health.org › u21-university-mental-health-group)
Postgraduate teaching
- DClinPsy Viva Coordinator
- Research 2 Course Coordinator
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
- Sleep and mental health in young adults.
-Insomnia and functional recovery after stroke.
Current PhD students supervised
Mr Alexandros Kapatais, School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh
Mr Declan Mclaren (https://www.gla.ac.uk/pgrs/declanmclaren/#)
Ms Jelena Milicev (https://www.gla.ac.uk/pgrs/jelenamilicev/#)
Research summary
The primary focus of my research is the application of psychological theory and methodology to explore the onset and maintenance of sleep and circadian difficulties across the lifespan and their association with mental health and well being in addition to physiological and environmental factors. Ultimately, the aim of my research is to design sleep intervention programs to improve sleep and mental health outcomes.
Current research interests
My current research interests include: - Sleep and mental health in young adults including students. - Insomnia following Acquired Brain Injuries. - Sleep and Neurodiversity (ASD and ADHD).Affiliated research centres
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The effectiveness of the behavioural components of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia in older adults: A systematic review
(20 pages)
In:
Journal of sleep research, pp. 1-20
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13843
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Sleep-related attentional and interpretive-bias in insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis
In:
Sleep medicine reviews, vol. 67
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2022.101713
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Published) -
"Let’s talk about well-being!": Fostering interdependence in doctoral communities
(16 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7757-2_32
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
Improving university students’ mental health using multi-component and single-component sleep interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis
In:
Sleep medicine, vol. 100, pp. 354-363
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2022.09.003
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A mixed methods expert opinion study on the optimal content and format for an occupational therapy intervention to improve sleep in schizophrenia spectrum disorders
(31 pages)
In:
PLoS ONE, vol. 17, pp. 1-31
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269453
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Adolescent perspectives of bedtime social media use: A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis
In:
Sleep medicine reviews, vol. 63
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2022.101626
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Prevalence of insomnia and insomnia symptoms following mild-Traumatic Brain Injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis
In:
Sleep medicine reviews, vol. 61
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101563
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A systematic review and meta-analysis of poor sleep, insomnia symptoms and stress in undergraduate students
(17 pages)
In:
Sleep medicine reviews, vol. 61
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101565
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Evaluating mental health and wellbeing of postgraduate researchers: Prevalence and contributing factors
In:
Current psychology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02309-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The natural history of insomnia: Predisposing, precipitating, coping, and perpetuating factors over the early developmental course of insomnia
In:
Sleep, vol. 44
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsab095
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Examining the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Disturbing Dreams and Nightmare Severity Index (DDNSI) consequences sub-component
(12 pages)
In:
Behavioral sleep medicine, vol. 19, pp. 783-794
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2020.1862848
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Prevalence and psychiatric correlates of suicidal ideation in UK university students
(7 pages)
In:
Journal of Affective Disorders (JAD), vol. 272, pp. 191-197
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.185
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Published) -
Emotion dysregulation mediates the relationship between nightmares and psychotic experiences: Results from a student population
In:
npj Schizophrenia, vol. 6, pp. 1-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-020-0103-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Mental health disorders and adolescent peer relationships
In:
Social Science & Medicine, vol. 253
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112973
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Dysfunctional sleep-related cognition and anxiety mediate the relationship between multidimensional perfectionism and insomnia symptoms
(8 pages)
In:
Cognitive Processing, vol. 21, pp. 141-148
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-019-00937-8
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Incidence and prevalence of post-stroke insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis
In:
Sleep medicine reviews, vol. 49
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2019.101222
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (Published) -
Psychopathy and chronotype disposition: The mediating role of depression
In:
Heliyon, vol. 5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02894
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Interactive 3D Visualisation of the Mammalian Circadian System
(27 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19385-0_2
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
The relationship between depression and insomnia symptoms amongst a sample of UK university students
(5 pages)
In:
Sleep Medicine Research, vol. 10, pp. 49-53
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17241/smr.2019.00332
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Anxiety and depression mediate the relationship between insomnia symptoms and the personality traits of conscientiousness and emotional stability
In:
Heliyon, vol. 5, pp. e01939
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01939
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)