Dr Emma Louise Gale is a Research Fellow in Child and Adolescent Health at the University of St Andrews, specialising in sleep health, circadian disruption, and the broader psychosocial determinants of health in young people. Her research is driven by a deep commitment to reducing health inequalities, improving wellbeing through early interventions, and ensuring that the voices of children, families, and frontline professionals are central to the design and delivery of health research.

Emma’s work spans both primary and secondary research methodologies, drawing on mixed-methods approaches to investigate how modifiable lifestyle behaviours such as sleep, screen use, and physical activity interact with wider social and environmental factors to influence child development, mental health, and obesity risk. She has led or contributed to numerous national and international projects, including large-scale systematic reviews, longitudinal data analysis using the Growing Up in Scotland study and UK Biobank, and the development of novel child- and family-based interventions such as Sleep Well Scotland.

Emma also plays a leading role in patient and public involvement (PPI), embedding co-production practices throughout the research lifecycle—from conceptualisation to dissemination. She is an advocate for inclusive, impactful science and has helped shape PPI strategy within sleep research both in Scotland and beyond. Her current programme of work is laying the foundation for a national framework on co-producing research with children and young people.

She has collaborated extensively with NHS services across Fife, Lothian and Tayside, and previously led research projects within NHS mental health services focused on bipolar disorder, as well as with NHS England investigating sleep patterns in individuals with neurodegenerative disease. Both programmes involved the collection and analysis of sleep data within these specialist clinical populations, deepening understanding of how sleep disturbances intersect with broader health trajectories.

Emma is also passionate about teaching and mentoring the next generation of researchers. She contributes to the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate medical research modules (MD4002 and MD5806), has co-supervised dissertation students, and regularly supervises and hosts summer students working on sleep-related projects, particularly those focused on specialist populations such as neurodiverse children and children with complex care needs.

Alongside her academic work, Emma has a long-standing passion for public engagement. Over the past decade, she has worked with more than 100 schools and reached over 8,000 pupils from primary through to secondary education. She regularly represents the University at national and community events, including Mind and Matter, Pint of Science, National Science Week, National Careers Week, International Women's Day, and the Festival of Social Science. Her outreach work is grounded in a belief that research should be accessible, inspiring, and co-created with those it seeks to benefit.

Currently ongoing, Emma is Principal Investigator on three major projects: Sleep Well Scotland (MRC-funded), a national initiative to translate research into practical education and policy change for adolescent sleep through family-based interventions; Scotland Speaks, a mixed-methods project capturing young people’s views on sleep, health, and equity; and Leading by Example (MRC-funded), a co-production project developed in partnership with Children in Scotland to support meaningful youth involvement in health research. She is also a co-investigator on several studies exploring the intersection of sleep with injury prevention, neurodevelopmental conditions, and hospital care pathways. Alongside this, she is developing a book aimed at supporting parents of teenagers to better understand and improve their child’s sleep health.

PhD in Medicine (Child and Adolescent Health) - 2021-2024 - Univeristy of St Andrews 

MSc in Sleep Medicine - 2017-2019 - University of Oxford 

BSc (Hons) in Human Biology - 2014-2017 - University of Birmingham

sleep, sleep disorders, circadian rhythms, circadian misalignment, social jetlag, obesity, adolescents, children, teenagers