2024
November
On 18th November 2024, I gave my habilitation lecture at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Basel. The topic for the lecture, which had to be unrelated to my research, was “Nature vs. Concrete: How Environment Shapes Mental Health Risk”.
September
For our Deutschlandfunk Nova Podcast “Über Schlafen“, the science journalist Ilka Eliana Knigge and I have received the award for science communication from the German Psychological Society (DGPs). The Prize for Science Journalism and Science Communication is awarded by the DGPs to individuals or institutions that have made an outstanding contribution to the presentation of psychological research in the media. The award was presented to the two winners on 16 September 2024 at the DGPs Congress in Vienna.
June
For our Registered Report “Effects of calibrated blue–yellow changes in light on the human circadian clock” (Blume et al., 2023) published in Nature Human Behaviour in December 2023, I have received the “Forschungspreis Biopsychologie 2024” from the Division of Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology of the German Psychological Society.
April
Our survey to study seasonal variations in sleep, fatigue, and sleepiness, is online. We would be grateful if you participated: Link to survey.
2023
December
On 22 December, our Registered Report “Effects of calibrated blue–yellow changes in light on the human circadian clock” was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. Please find the press release from the University of Basel here.
May
On 23 May, the new Deutschlandfunk Nova Podcast “Über Schlafen” was launched, which I am hosting with Ilka Knigge, a science journalist. Every week, we will talk about one exciting topic related to sleep. Because we spend about one third of our lives in this state and still often know so little about it. You can listen to it everywhere, where you can stream podcasts.
2022
December
My talk at TEDxBasel “How daylight could help you sleep better” has been published. Thanks to all fellow speakers and volunteers for making this a truly unique and enjoyable esperience! Watch here.
November
I am grateful for the Freiwillige akademische Gesellschaft Basel’s Fonds zur Förderung von Lehre und Forschung providing additional funding (CHF 15’600) to the DayCiS study that investigates the effects of daylight and physical activity on circadian rhythms and sleep.
August
My latest publication entitled “Melatonin suppression does not automatically alter sleepiness, vigilance, sensory processing, or sleep” has now been accepted for publication in SLEEP.
June
At the “Psychologie & Gehirn”, the annual meeting of the German Psychological Society (DGPs) Section Biological & Neuropsychology, I received an award for science communcation.
May
I am very excited to announce that I will be a speaker at the TEDxBasel event on 7 May.
March
On 6 March, we had two publications on diurnal rhythms in patients with severe brain injury accepted in SLEEP and Brain Sciences (first author Monika Angerer, University of Salzburg). Congrats and well done, Monika!
2021
December
With my colleague Monika Angerer (University of Salzburg), I have been awareded the Christian-Doppler-Preis of the Land Salzburg 2021 (division Molecular Biosciences and Neurosciences)
I have joined the team of freelance #scicomm trainers at the German National Institute for Science Communication (Nawik). I am looking forward to share my passion for science communication and help others discover and develop their potential.
October
I was delighted to be invited as a guest for “Zwischentöne” on Deutschlandfunk, where, among other aspects, we chatted about sleep, precarious working conditions in academia, and my cello.
August
I am incredibly grateful and happy that my “Ambizione” grant will be funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The funding allows me to continue my research at the Centre for Chronobiology at the University of Basel and the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel.
July
Our new publication entitled “Association of transportation noise with sleep during the first year of life: a longitudinal study” has been accepted in Environmental Research.
With Amrei Bahr, Kristin Eichhorn, and Sebastian Kubon, I have written a piece on the #IchBinHanna protests for Nature Human Behaviour. With the hashtag #IchBinHanna, thousands of researchers protest against a German law that forces researchers out (btw. Austria adopted a similar law in May 21).
May
On 19 May, I gave an expert interview in “Die grosse TerraX Show” on ZDF.
April
Our new preprint “Association of transportation noise with sleep during infancy: a longitudinal study” is online on OSF.
March
On 22 March, I was a guest in the programme “Abendrot” (Saarländischer Rundfunk, SR1). We chatted about sleep and society, chronotypes, and what everyone can do for his/her sleep. The podcast is available here.
Our companion paper to the R package “SleepCycles” was accepted for publication in MethodsX.
On 15 March, I gave a talk at the “Woche des Gehirns” of the University of Basel on “Sleep Myths”.
January
On 11 January, I was a guest at the University of Kiel (Germany) in the lecture series “Science and alternative facts”. My talk on “Sleep Myths” is available here (in German).
2020
November
I have been awarded a grant from the University of Basel Research Fund for Outstanding Junior Researchers (CHF 79’412). The grant will allow me to continue my research at the Centre for Chronobiology until at least 04/2022.
A first version of the ‘SleepCycles’ package for R has been released on GitHub. I am still testing fine details before preparing a release on CRAN. Feel free to test it and I am happy to receive and implement your feedback!
October
I am beyond delighted that I have been awarded the Nachwuchsförderpreis Schlafforschung by the German Sleep Society DGSM for our work on sleep and sleep-wake patterns during the COVID-19 ‘lockdown’.
In a short documentary for ‘Kabel 1 – Abenteuer Leben am Sonntag‘, I explain, what everyone can do to sleep better.
September
I have been elected as a new member of the Early Career Researcher Network of the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS). I am very much looking forward to contributing to the activities of the ECRN.
July
A lay summary of our publication on the effects of the COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ on sleep has been published in TheScienceBreaker.
June
Our publication “Effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on human sleep and rest-activity rhythms” has been published in Current Biology. The associated press release gives a summary of our findings.
April
My blog post ‘Five Tips for Healthy Sleep during COVID-19’ for ‘SciFive’, the science Blog of the University of Basel, has been published.
Moreover, our “COVID-19 & Sleep” project was featured in the University of Basel News this week.
March
We have launched a study on the effects of COVID-19 and the measures to contain the pandemic on sleep. Please participate here.
Earlier in March, our manuscript “Actigraphy in brain-injured patients—A valid measurement for assessing circadian rhythms?” has been accepted for publication in BMC Medicine. Brilliant first publication by my colleague Monika Angerer.
January
On 26th January, I was the guest in “Dein Sonntag”, a weekly programme on “Deutschlandfunk Nova”. Talking to Sebastian Sonntag about sleep was great fun indeed. You can find and listen to the result here.
2019
December
Just before Christmas, we have received the great news that our research was granted another CHF 55’111 from the Novartis Foundation for Biological-Medical Research.
October
On 26th October I was a guest at “Talk am See” and talked about sleep with Gaby Hauptmann. Check out the media page for more information.
In the beginning of October, I have attended a 3-day training course on Cognitive Behavioural Treatment for Insomnia (CBT-I) at the University Hospital in Freiburg, Germany. The more clinical perspective was truly stimulating and I hope to apply it more in the future.
September
On 28th September, my research on artificial light and sleep was featured in ORF Newton in an episode on light pollution.
August
I am happy to see my first publication from the Basel Chronobiology Lab with my colleagues Manuel Spitschan and Corrado Garbazza to be published. We review the effects of light on circadian rhythms, sleep, and mood, also covering some basic aspects about the visual system.
May/June
I have been granted additional funding for the LIGHT.Sleep study I am running here in Basel from the Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft Basel (CHF 20’000) and the Forschungsförderungsfonds of the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel (CHF 31’500).
Additionally, we have submitted a manuscript entitled “How does Austria sleep? An update on self-reported sleep habits and complaints.”. The preprint can be downloaded here.
We have submitted a manuscript on the “Effects of light on human circadian rhythms, sleep, and mood”. The preprint can be downloaded here.
March
In my first science communication competition, which was one of the Swiss semi-finals of FameLab, I advanced to the Swiss final to be held in Bern in April. I really enjoyed the competition, it will definitely not have been my last ;-)…
February
We were pleased to learn that our new publication on circadian rhythms in severely brain-injured patients entitled Healthier Rhythm, Healthier Brain? Integrity of Circadian Melatonin and Temperature Rhythms Relates to the Clinical State of Brain-Injured Patients has been accepted for publication in the European Journal of Neurology.
Our comment on Legendre and colleagues’ study published in Nature Human Behaviour earlier this year is now available as a preprint on Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/bq8hr/
January
I have moved to Basel, Switzerland, where I will work on the effects of artificial light on sleep at the Centre for Chronobiology for the next two years working on my project LIGHT.Sleep funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF.
2018
September
I am thrilled to learn that I have been awarded the “Giselher-Guttmann Price 2018” of the Austrian Society for Neuropsychology (GNPÖ) for our work on circadian rhythms in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) following severe brain injury.
Daylight Saving Time Discussion
Moreover, we contribute to the discussion on the potential effects of constant daylight saving time (DST) with a press release (see here).
Meeting of the European Sleep Research Society Meeting (Basel, Switzerland, 24-28 September)
Manuel Schabus and I are organising a panel discussuion at the ESRS meeting in Basel, CH (24-28 September) on the effects of constant daylight saving time. On the panel: Derk-Jan Dijk (Surrey), Gilles Vandewalle (Liège), Kenneth Wright (Colorado, Boulder), and Eva Winnebeck (Munich). The discussion will take place on 27th September 13:05-14:05 in room “Osaka”.
June
I have been awarded a Schrödinger-Fellowship from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, 177.805,00 €). From 2019 on I am going to spend two years at the Department for Chronobiology at the Psychiatric University Clinic Basel (Switzerland) before returning to Salzburg in 2021. In Basel, I will extend my research on circadian rhythms and sleep. In particular, I will investigate how artificial light exposure in the evening alters cognitive processes during the night. Today it is well-known that especially exposure to blue light in the evening, which is for example emitted by e-readers or smartphones, has negative effects on sleep. However, the underlying mechanisms, for example whether light exposure renders cognitive processing more “wake-like”, are entirely unknown.
May
All the efforts paid off and my publication “Standing Sentinel during Human Sleep: Continued Evaluation of Environmental Stimuli in the Absence of Consciousness” has finally been accepted for publication in NeuroImage.
2017
May
During the “Dies Academicus” on 31st May I was awarded the Young Investigators Award of the University of Salzburg in the category “Life Sciences” for my work on circadian rhythms in patients with disorders of consciousness.
April
In April our paper with the title “Circadian Rhythms in Patients with Severe Brain Injury: A Clue to Consciousness?” was published in Neurology. For more information check out the media and publication sections.