Join our lab

We are always happy to hear from people who are interested in working with us, whether you are looking for a lab to launch your next research adventure, or interested in finding ways to collaborate. You can find out about different types of work we do on our Research page. If you are new to us, please make sure you stop by our About us and our values page to find out who we are and what we value.

Prospective doctoral candidates

Topics for doctoral/PhD projects are worked out collaboratively with the candidate to incorporate their research interests and career goals. Projects broadly relate to sleep and mental health, and improving sleep and wellbeing through cognitive-behavioural interventions.

Currently, applicants could work in four areas:

  1. Perinatal insomnia and mental health. The Sleep Health in Perinatal Care (SHINE) study is a large National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded clinical trial, looking at real-world effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia during pregnancy and the postpartum periods, as well as the implementation potential of the intervention in the routine perinatal care (Royal Women's Hospital and Monash Health). Within this trial, there will be ample scope for the candidate to develop research topics in the area of perinatal maternal/infant sleep and mental health, implementation science, as well as clinical expertise in treating insomnia during this challenging time for new parents.
  2. Sleep and Mental health in Adolescents. Sleep and circadian rhythms (body clock) undergo tremendous changes during adolescence. It is also during this critical developmental period, early signs of mental health symptoms such as anxiety and depression emerge. The CLASS (Circadian Light in Adolescence, Sleep and School) Study is dual funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the NHMRC. It follows a large cohort of teenagers from Year 8 to Year 12, and examines how changes sleep and circadian rhythms are related to changes in mental health symptoms and academic performance. A wide range of topics are available in within this project.
  3. A novel approach to improve sleep in adolescents. Over the past 10 years, our group have extensively studied the unique sleep challenges adolescents face. Based on this body of work, we are piloting a novel intervention to help adolescents sleep better using a combined bio-psycho-social approach. The candidate will play a critical role in the development and delivery of the intervention, and receive training on behavioural management of sleep problems in adolescents.
  4. Monash University Healthy Sleep Clinic. This busy outpatient service provides evidence-based treatments for sleep disorders to the broader community, while also serving as a platform to foster research excellence, professional training, and education. Over the past 8 years, our research database has captured comprehensive sleep and mental health profiles on 2700+ patients. Candidate working in this area will have the opportunity to have deep-dives into our research database, and receive specialist training in behavioural sleep medicine. There is also scope for the candidate to design and pilot hybrid clinician-digital intervention in a real-world clinical setting.

Prospective Honours students and Research Interns

We are always happy to hear from anyone with a passion for sleep and mental health research and looking for some hands-on experiences.

Research Internship positions are often available throughout the year, please fill in an Expression of Interest or drop an email to bei.bei@monash.edu if you wish to hear about currently available opportunities.