Charli Sargent

Since completing my PhD in August 2006, I have been involved in two major areas of research (i) field-based studies examining the sleep/wake behaviour of elite athletes, and (ii) laboratory-based studies examining the relative impacts of sleep, wake and body clock on sleep, performance and health.

For example:
Working closely with the Australian Institute of Sport, my research in the field has shown that that elite athletes obtain substantially less sleep on average (e.g. 6.4h/day) than the generally accepted target of 8h/day. It is likely that this level of sleep loss (e.g. 1.6h/day) would have acute and chronic effects on the performance and wellbeing of these athletes.
My research in time-isolation accommodation suites has shown that the circadian system’s strong influence on sleep/wake patterns is substantially weakened under conditions of chronic sleep restriction.

A snapshot of my research career:

I am a member of the sleep and circadian rhythms research group led by Associate Professor Greg Roach at the Appleton Institute for Behavioural Science.
I have been a Chief Investigator on team-based grants worth $1.6 million, including three nationally competitive grants – for one of which I was awarded an ARC Australian Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, Industry (2009-2012). In addition, I have been the leading Chief Investigator on three UniSA Divisional Research Grants worth $43,000 (2008, 2009, 2010), one CQUniversity Merit Grant worth $50,000 (2013-2014), and a Chief Investigator on two Cooperative Research Centre for Rail Innovation grants worth $590,000 (2009-2010).
I have conducted research with peak sporting organisations including: Australian Institute of Sport, Cricket Australia, Hockey Australia, Cycling Australia, FIFA, Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Teams (2008, 2010, 2012), AFL, Super Rugby
I have published more than 45 refereed journal articles and conference papers.
I have an h-index of 9 (Scopus).
79% of my articles have been published in journals ranked in the top quartile of their respective fields (based on ISI impact factor).