For our prestigious Jo Trott Memorial Lecture this year, we were fortunate enough to hear Professor Russell Foster speak passionately about Sleep and Circadian Rhythms. 

A man with many titles and a personal connection to the Abbey shared his expertise, having been researching for almost four decades! 

“What an amazing talk! Sleep is so fundamental to our health and learning more about the biological body clock was fascinating. It’s remarkable to hear about recent and upcoming developments within the field and how dynamic it is! It’s crucial to consider the transnational nature of collaboration in science. Whilst the adage goes – too many cooks spoil the broth – perhaps that doesn’t apply to research as different perspectives are essential for innovation and creativity.”- Aarini. 

“As someone with an interest in neurobiology I found this talk particularly insightful. Professor Foster’s talk debunked a sea of misinformation such as how adults and teenagers have their peaks in cognitive information processing at a different time of the day and how melatonin isn’t actually a sleep hormone but it is a hormone in the brain which produces the response to darkness!” – Ayzah

“Following the insightful talk from Professor Russell Foster on sleep and the circadian system, I must say it has definitely sparked my curiosity to research more. The topic of biological rhythms is fascinating to me, especially since we are beginning to learn about this topic in Psychology. I enjoyed the level of detail Professor Foster went into when explaining different scenarios. For example, he explained the biology of how driving in the early morning is as dangerous as driving under the influence.” – Mahi