We invite you to join the first Big Project!

Led by Dr Satyam Chauhan (satyam.chauhan@brunel.ac.uk), working under the supervision of Prof Veena Kumari (Centre for Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Brunel University of London) and in close collaboration with Prof Ulrich Ettinger (University of Bonn, Germany) (Supported by a steering group from the BSPID leadership committee).

In exchange for authorship

Project details

Sleep quality and chronotype (i.e., tendency to be a morning or evening person) significantly influence mental health, cognitive function, and overall well-being. While sleep disruptions impair emotional, physical, and cognitive health, our recent findings suggest that chronotype does not directly affect mental health and cognitive performance in young adults (18-40 years). Instead, sleep quality mediates the relationship between chronotype and mental health in this age group. However, the impact of both sleep quality and chronotype may be stronger in people aged 50 years or over, relative to younger individuals.

This research is particularly relevant because insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality are most overlooked contributors to various psychological, psychiatric, and neurodegenerative diseases. Neuroticism and schizotypy - associated with heightened emotional instability and atypical cognitive processing, place individuals at greater risk for mental health challenges. Individuals scoring high on these traits experience elevated stress levels, anxiety, and mood disturbances, all of which can be exacerbated by sleep disruptions.

By exploring the relationships between sleep behaviour, psychopathology-related personality traits, trauma, and physical and cognitive health, this project will provide crucial insights into mental health risk factors across different age groups and sexes. Conducted across 10 countries in Europe, Asia, and Oceania, the study aims to contribute to global efforts to improve sleep hygiene and mental health strategies, offering evidence-based interventions for those at higher risk.

Data Collection Collaborators

If you decide to collaborate with us, we will ask you to…

Collect 50 participants

Any 18+ sample 

Online

378 items

Expected completion time: 45-50 minutes on average

As of the 23rd May 2025, there are 29 collaborators, from 10 countries collecting data on this project, with a target sample size of 1450.

Meet the Principal Investigator for the Project

Dr Satyam Chauhan - Dr Satyam Chauhan is an early career researcher who completed his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology from Brunel University of London, United Kingdom, in 2024. He is a postdoctoral researcher working under the supervision of Professor Veena Kumari at the Centre for Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Brunel University of London. He is predominantly interested in sleep and psychiatric illnesses; however, he also has broad research interests, including circadian rhythmicity, childhood trauma, personality, and brain functioning. He is a reviewer for various psychology journals and has received various national awards, including the Early Career Researcher Award (2023) from the Affect, Personality, and Embodied Brain and was nominated for the EAPL Scientific Impact Award (2024, 2025) from European Association of Psychology and Law and Rising Star Award (2025) from Brunel Alumni Awards.    

Professor Veena Kumari - Professor Veena Kumari obtained her PhD in Psychology from Banaras Hindu University, India, in 1993 before joining the Institute of Psychiatry, London, for post-doctoral research. She became a Beit Memorial Research Fellow in 1999, a Wellcome Senior Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science in 2002, and a Full Professor in 2006 at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (formerly known as the Institute of Psychiatry), King’s College London, UK. She left King’s College London in 2016 to join the Sovereign Health Group (USA) as the Chief Scientific Officer. She returned to the UK in 2018 to join Brunel University London as Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Centre for Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience (CCN).

Her research interests include the neurobiological effects of pharmacological and psychological treatments in psychosis, neurobiology of violence in mental illness, psychobiology of addiction, and personality and brain functioning. Prof Kumari has over 300 publications in reputed psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience journals and received various national and international awards for her research, including the Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance of Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, USA (1999), a research fellowship from BEIT Memorial Foundation (1999-2002), the BAP (British Association of Psychopharmacology) Clinical Psychopharmacology Prize (2002), Wellcome Senior Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Science (2002-2009), the prestigious Humboldt Research Award (2014), and most recently a Bonn International Fellowship (2020/21). Professor Kumari has supervised a large number of postgraduate and doctoral students and served as editor or editorial board member for several psychology and psychiatry journals.