Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon

Contact Details

Phone
+64 21 246 8700
Email
barbara.galland@otago.ac.nz
Position
Professor
Department
Department of Paediatrics and Child Health (Dunedin)
Qualifications
PhD BSc(Hons) NZCS
Research summary
Children’s sleep health, adolescent sleep-wake biology, sleep-disordered breathing, sleep metrics
Teaching
  • MICN501 Medicine Fifth Year
Memberships
  • President – NZ Branch of the Australasian Sleep Association
  • Board of Directors of the Australasian Sleep Association
  • New Zealand Child and Youth Clinical Network (sleep) team
  • Action Editor for Behavioral Sleep Medicine
  • Review Editor for Frontiers in Neurology (Sleep Disorders)

Research

My research builds on the growing awareness that good sleep health is essential for optimal child development, influencing behavioural regulation, learning, physical and mental health, and overall well-being. When not addressed early, poor sleep health may have long-term consequences that extend into adulthood. Active research projects explore: the influence that screen time and different device types have on the sleep of children aged from preschool through to late adolescence; the impact that pre-sleep behaviours have on sleep and next-day functioning across all age groups; and the influence that early school start times have on teenagers' sleep health and wellbeing. I have considerable expertise in large-scale studies using wrist-worn actigraphy and experience in smaller-scale studies employing polysomnography to explore sleep architecture. All my research has a strong focus on sleep metrics essential for understanding the complexities of sleep..

Barbara completed a Bachelor of Science (1st class honours) degree in Physiology in 1984 and a PhD in Pharmacology in 1989 at the University of Otago. She has authored over 160 scientific research and review articles, with a primary focus on children's sleep health as part of her multidisciplinary and collaborative research programme.

Watch Barbara’s Inaugural Professorial Lecture

Publications

Smith, H., Barber, C., Taylor, R., Signal, T. L., Hetrick, S., Alansari, M., … Galland, B. (2025). No earlier than 9:45 A.M: A qualitative study of adolescents' experiences of later school start times in Aotearoa New Zealand. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 2473351. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/15402002.2025.2473351 Journal - Research Article

Styles, S. E., Haszard, J. J., Rose, S., Galland, B. C., Wiltshire, E. J., de Bock, M. I., Ketu-Mckenzie, M., … Wong, J., … Wheeler, B. J. (2025). Developing a multicomponent intervention to increase glucose time in range in adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes: An optimisation trial to screen continuous glucose monitoring, sleep extension, healthier snacking and values-guided self-management intervention components. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 152, 107864. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2025.107864 Journal - Research Article

Taylor, R. W., Galland, B. C., Heath, A.-L. M., Gray, A. R., Meredith-Jones, K. A., Fortune, S. A., Sullivan, T. A., Adebowale, T., McIntosh, D., Jackson, R. F., & Taylor, B. J. (2025). Long-term follow-up of the impact of brief sleep and lifestyle interventions in infancy on BMI z-score at 11 years of age: The POI randomized controlled trial. Pediatric Obesity. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/ijpo.13204 Journal - Research Article

Brosnan, B., Meredith-Jones, K. A., Haszard, J. J., Wickham, S.-R., Galland, B. C., Russell-Camp, T., & Taylor, R. W. (2025). From dusk to dawn: Examining how adolescents engage with digital media using objective measures of screen time in a repeated measures study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, 22, 4. doi: 10.1186/s12966-024-01698-0 Journal - Research Article

Wickham, S., Brosnan, B., Haszard, J., Meredith-Jones, K., Galland, B., & Taylor, R. (2024). Sleepy teens and the use of screens: A repeated measures analysis examining the relationship between pre-bedtime screen use and sleep. Sleep: Advances, 5(Suppl. 1), O002. doi: 10.1093/sleepadvances/zpae070.002 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Back to top