Researching the Intersection

Kim Whitehead, early career researcher in neurobiology and Professor Matthew Beaumont, Professor of English Literature and Co-Director of UCL's Urban Lab, joined together to explore the little-understood world of sleep and sleep disorders through the disparate disciplines of neurology, literature, and art.

Their project asked: is the concept of sleeplessness learned in adolescence and, if so, does this explain why insomnia is rare before adulthood? In a recent issue of The Lancet, they also argued for the need for an inter-disciplinary approach to sleep research.