Dr Greg Elder

Assistant Professor

School: Psychology

I am a sleep researcher and I am Associate Director of Northumbria Sleep Research. I joined Northumbria University in March 2018 following post-doctoral work at Newcastle University and a short time as a lecturer at Teesside University.

I use a range of techniques to measure sleep, including overnight laboratory studies. I have research interests in applied and clinical sleep research projects. I have a particular interest in the aetiology and treatment of sleep disturbances in neurodegenerative dementia, and in healthy ageing more generally. I also have interests in the use of non-invasive brain stimulation (transcranial direct current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation) and their applications in sleep and dementia research. I have managed clinical trials in the UK and India which have used tDCS as a treatment for attentional problems and visual hallucinations in Lewy body dementia. Finally, I have a general interest in Lewy body dementia research, with a focus on neuropsychological symptoms and clinical trial outcome measures.

Please feel free to get in contact if you are working with me as a collaborator or potential PhD student.

Campus Address

Room 119 Northumberland Building
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Greg

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

the aetiology and treatment of sleep disturbances in neurodegenerative dementia (primarily Lewy body dementia)
the relationship between sleep, cognition and behavioural symptoms in neurodegenerative dementia
sleep in healthy ageing
stress and sleep disturbances
non-invasive brain stimulation (transcranial direct current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation) and their applications in sleep and dementia research.
Lewy body dementia research, with a focus on neuropsychological symptoms and clinical trial outcome measures.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Consumer wearable devices for sleep measurement: ready for use in sleep research and medicine?, Elder, G., Phillips, A., Voysey, Z., Leocadio-Miguel, M., Hill, E. 10 Dec 2025, In: Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation
Dietary interventions to support and improve sleep disturbances and insomnia disorder in menopause: from bench to bedside, Musgrave, R., Nowakowski, S., Watermeyer, T., Arentson-Lantz, E., Elder, G. 1 Jun 2025, In: Post Reproductive Health
The need to prioritize ”insomnia disorder” in public health agendas: “a wakeup call” position paper from European and Canadian experts in sleep and mental health, Palagini, L., Arango, C., Bassetti, C., Bastien, C., Geoffroy, P., Elder, G., Ellis, J., Hedner, J., Khullar, A., Nobili, L., Partinen, M., Saletu, M., Vieta, E., Morin, C., Riemann, D., Ferini Strambi, L., Fiorillo, A. 1 Nov 2025, In: Sleep Medicine
An online behavioral self-help intervention rapidly improves acute insomnia severity and subjective mood during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic: a stratified randomized controlled trial, Elder, G., Santhi, N., Robson, A., Alfonso-Miller, P., Spiegelhalder, K., Ellis, J. 1 Jun 2024, In: Sleep
Challenges and opportunities of deep learning for wearable-based objective sleep assessment, Zhai, B., Elder, G., Godfrey, A. 4 Apr 2024, In: npj Digital Medicine
Nutritional interventions in treating menopause-related sleep disturbances: a systematic review, Polasek, D., Santhi, N., Alfonso-Miller, P., Walshe, I., Haskell-Ramsay, C., Elder, G. 1 Aug 2024, In: Nutrition Reviews
Understanding the nature and impact of cognitive fluctuations and sleep disturbances in dementia with Lewy bodies: a qualitative caregiver study, Matterson, E., Wilson-Menzfeld, G., Olsen, K., Taylor, J., Elder, G. 9 Oct 2024, In: SAGE Open Medicine
Stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis: how can the COVID-19 pandemic inform our understanding and treatment of acute insomnia?, Elder, G., Altena, E., Ellis, J., Palagini, L. 1 Aug 2023, In: Journal of Sleep Research
CBT-I Applied to Acute Insomnia, Ellis, J., Alfonso-Miller, P., Elder, G. 12 Aug 2022, Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy For Insomnia (CBT-I) Across The Life Span, Hoboken, US, Blackwell Publishing
Habitual subjective sleep continuity is not associated with fluid intelligence: an exploratory study, Jensen, E., Santhi, N., Elder, G. 28 Dec 2022, In: Sleep Medicine Research