Candidates for the ESRS Board and Scientific Committee 2024-2026
For the first time in 2024, voting is being conducted electronically before the Business Meeting, which will take place during Sleep Europe in Seville, Spain. The online voting period commenced at 00:00 CEST on 12 September 2024 and will remain open for a period of two weeks, concluding at 00:00 CEST on 26 September 2024. The results of the electronic voting will be announced during the ESRS Business Meeting, scheduled for Thursday, 26 September at 19:00 CEST.
In accordance with the Bylaws, all ESRS members were invited to nominate candidates. The nominations, duly received by the Secretary and submitted by the 11 September deadline, are outlined below.
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Board Members to Renew a 2-year Term in the Same Position
Vice-President (Basic)
Candidate: Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, United Kingdom
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- ESRS Vice-President Basic: 2022-2024
- Scientific Committee Co-Chair: 2020 – 2022
- Scientific Committee Member 2018-2020
New Board Candidates
President
Candidate: Erna Sif Arnardóttir, Iceland
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- Secretary of the ESRS Board 2020-2024
- ESRS co-chair for the ERS-ESRS Sleep and Breathing Conference 2025
- Sleep Revolution Lead
- Advisory member of the ESRS Sleep Medicine Committee (SMC)
- Assembly of National Sleep Societies Executive Committee Member 2014- 2018
- Assembly of National Sleep Societies Executive Committee Member 2018-2020
- Chair and Founder of the Early Career Research Network 2014-2017
- Chair of the ANSS-ESRS “Beyond the AHI” task force 2017-2021
- Member of the Programme Committee for the Sleep and Breathing Conference of the ESRS and ERS in 2021 and 2023
Vice-President (Clinical)
Candidate: Barbara Gnidovec Stražišar, Slovenia
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- Active Member of ESRS since 2004
- Vice President of the Slovenian Sleep Society 2004
- President of the Slovenian Sleep Society 2016
- Member Executive Committee ANSS 2016–2018
- Chair of the Executive Committee ANSS 2018–2020
- Advisory member Executive Committee ANSS 2020-2024
- Member of the ESRS Sleep Medicine Committee 2019–2022
- Coordinator of the European Paediatric Sleep subcommittee.
- Chair of the ESRS Sleep Medicine Committee 2022-2024
- Active Member of the ESRS Sleep Education Committee since 2019
Candidate: Renata Riha, United Kingdom
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- ESRS Member since 2001
- Associate Editor on Journal Sleep Research since 2006
- European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) Scientific Committee (Co-chair 2014-2016)
- Member of Scientific Committee ESRS – September 2012 – 2016
- ESRS Certified Somnologist (by examination) – 2013
- Research Networking Committee ESRS – March 2013 -2018
- Programme committee World Sleep Federation Prague conference 2017
- Programme committee Sleep and Breathing; Marseille 2017
- Programme committee British Sleep Society 2015 and 2017
- British Sleep Society Committee Member 2013–2017
Treasurer
Candidate: Kerstin Hoedlmoser, Austria
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- Since 2004 ESRS Member
- 17th ESRS conference 2004 (Prague):
- #1 – The relationship between sleep spindle activity, phase-locking of the EEG and declarative memory consolidation (M. Schabus, K. Hödlmoser, G. Gruber, S. Parapatics, & W. Klimesch)
#2 – Sleep improves performance in an implicit memory task (C. Sauter, G. Kloesch, M. Schabus, K. Hoedlmoser, P. Anderer, G. Gruber, S. Parapatics, W. Klimesch, B. Saletu, & J. Zeitlhofer) - ESRS 2006 (Innsbruck) – first active poster presentation:
P482: EEG theta power during sleep and memory performance (K. Hoedlmoser, W. Stadler, M. Schabus, P. Anderer, C. Sauter, G. Kloesch, W. Klimesch, & J. Zeitlhofer) - ESRS – EU “Marie-Curie“ Project – 2007-2010: Training in Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine
- Since then, active attendance at each ESRS congress with posters, talks, symposia
- ESRS 2014 (Tallin) – Young Scientist Symposium: The impact of sleep on three-ball cascade juggling
- Member of the Scientific Board of the ESRS 2018-2022
- “Recent advances in memory consolidation and information processing during sleep” K. Hoedlmoser, P. Peigneux, & G. Rauchs published in the “50th Anniversary to the ESRS Special Issue”, 2022
- ESRS 50th Anniversary JSR Special Issue Webinar “Sleep and memory consolidation” 2022
- Since 2023: Associate Editor of the Journal of Sleep Research
Candidate: Yaroslav Winter, Germany
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- co-speaker of national working group for insomnia, organisation of symposia
Secretary
Candidate: Ysbrand van der Werf, The Netherlands
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- President of the Dutch National Sleep Society (NSWO) 2017
- Chair of the Executive Committee of the ANSS 2020-2024
- Treasurer of the Executive Committee of the ANSS 2018-2020
Assistant Secretary (anticipated Member-at-large)
Candidate: Karen Spruyt, France
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- Member of the Scientific Committee
- Member of the Education Committee
- Member of the EPA/CKS Taskforce
- Advisory Member of the Sleep Medicine committee
- Advisory Member of the Paediatric Sleep Medicine Subcommittee
- Member of the Paediatric Sleep School Organizing Committee
Candidate: Winfried Randerath, Germany
Previous Activities in the ESRS:
- ESRS Member since 2013
- ESRS co-chair for the Sleep and Breathing Conference 2025
- Member of the ESRS Guidelines working group
- Member of the Sleep Medicine Committee
- Sleep Revolution Task Force
Scientific Committee Members to Renew a 2-year Term
Basic Animal
Candidate: Alessandro Silvani, Italy
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences-Physiology, University of Bologna, Italy
Fields of Interest: Orexin, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, cardiovascular, electromyography
Basic Human
Candidate: Eva Winnebeck, United Kingdom
Affiliation: Lecturer in Chronobiology, School of Biosciences and Medicine, University of Surrey, United Kingdom
Fields of Interest: Chronobiology, NREM-REM cycles, actigraphy, big data
Mental Health
Candidate: Christine Blume, Switzerland
Affiliation: Postdoc, Centre for Chronobiology, University of Basel, United Kingdom
Fields of Interest: Sleep, chronobiology, light, biological rhythms, consciousness, cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia
Paediatrics
Candidate: Karen Spruyt, France
Affiliation: Professor/Researcher CR INSERM, Neuro Diderot – INSERM, Université de Paris, France
Fields of Interest: Paediatric sleep; child development; neurosciences; sleep research methodology; statistics
Respiratory
Candidate: Özen Başoğlu,Türkiye
Affiliation: Professor of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Türkiye
Fields of Interest: Sleep disordered breathing, obesity hypoventilation syndrome, sex-specific medicine, PAP therapy
Sleep Technology
Candidate: Timo Leppänen, Finland
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland. Diagnostic Imaging Center, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; Adjunct Fellow, School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Fields of Interest: Sleep apnoea, sleep, machine learning, biosignal analyses, wearables
New Scientific Committee Candidates
Basic Animal
Candidate: Carolina Gutierrez Herrera, Switzerland
Affiliation: Group Leader, Center for Experimental Neurology, Neurology Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland
Fields of Interest: Sleep regulation, physiology of sleep (including the role of glia), neurovascular and psychiatry disorders
Basic Human
Candidate: Giulio Bernardi, Italy
Affiliation: Associate Professor, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy
Fields of Interest: Sleep plasticity, dreams
Mental Health
Candidate: An Mariman, Belgium
Affiliation:Senior staff member, Psychiatry/Center of integrative medicine, Ghent University and University Hospital, Belgium
Fields of Interest: Sleep in chronic pain and fatigue, insomnia, sleep in psychiatric disorders
Candidate: Greg Elder, United Kingdom
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, United Kingdom
Fields of Interest: Sleep research, insomnia, ageing, neurodegenerative dementia
Candidate: Jennifer Goldschmied, United States of America
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, United States of America
Fields of Interest: Mood disorders, neuroplasticity, slow-wave activity
Candidate: Masoud Tahmasian, Germany
Affiliation: Team Leader, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour),Jülich Research Centre, Germany
Fields of Interest: Neuroimaging, insomnia, depression, mental health, meta-analysis, machine learning
Candidate: Megan Crawford, United Kingdom
Affiliation:Senior Lecturer, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Fields of Interest: Sleep disorders, CBT-I, treatment adherence, behaviour change
Candidate: Susanna Jernelöv, Sweden
Affiliation: Lecturer, Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institute, Sweden
Fields of Interest: Sleep disorders, insomnia, psychiatry
Neurology
Candidate: Carolina Lombardi, Italy
Affiliation: Head of, Sleep disorder Center, Department of Cardiology, Milano Bicocca University, Istituto Auxologico IRCCS, Milan, Italy
Fields of Interest: Sleep Apnea, excessive daytime sleepiness, cardiovascular and neurological consequences of OSA, epilepsy
Candidate: Fabio Pizza, Italy
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy
Fields of Interest: Polysomnography, daytime sleepiness, narcolepsy, vigilance assessment
Candidate: Gulcin Benbir Senel, Türkiye
Affiliation: Professor of Neurology, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Türkiye
Fields of Interest: Neurology, Narcolepsy, REM sleep behavior disorder, sleep-related movement disorders
Candidate: Lucie Barateau, France
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Sleep-Wake Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Gui-de-Chauliac Hospital, CHU Montpellier, France; National Reference Centre for Orphan Diseases, Narcolepsy, Idiopathic Hypersomnia, and Kleine-Levin Syndrome, Montpellier, France; Institute of neuroscience of Montpellier (INM), Univ Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier, France
Fields of Interest: Narcolepsy, hypersomnia, sleepiness, orexin/hypocretin, parasomnias, restless legs syndrome
Candidate: Melanie Strauss, Belgium
Affiliation: Hospital Professor in Neurology; Head Sleep Clinic Brussels-Erasme Hospital; FNRS (National Scientific Research Fund) Post-doctorate Clinical Master Specialist, Brussels-Erasme University Hospital and Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium
Fields of Interest: Sleep and cognition, vigilance, consciousness, sleep and neurological disorders
Candidate: Yaroslav Winter, Germany
Affiliation: Head of Center for Epilepsy and Sleep Medicine, University of Mainz, Germany
Fields of Interest: Sleep, epilepsy, insomnia, pharmacology, neurology
Paediatrics
Candidate: Michelle Downes, Ireland
Affiliation: Associate Professor, School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Ireland
Fields of Interest: the development of sleep, executive function, learning in infants and young children
Candidate:Plamen Bokov, France
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Hôpital Robert-Debré Paris, France
Fields of Interest: Pediatric sleep, pediatric OSAS, neurodisabilities, respiration
Candidate: Susana Falardo Ramos, Portugal
Affiliation: Post-graduation Coordinator and Invited Professor, Catholic Portuguese University, Portugal
Fields of Interest: Paediatric sleep
Public Health
Candidate: Katerina Vlami, Greece
Affiliation: Head of Sleep Unit – 2nd Pulmonary Department General Hospital National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Fields of Interest: Sleep Apnoea, Insomnia, Skin and Sleep disorders Sleep in Public Health
Candidate: Sébastien Bailly, France
Affiliation:Researcher, HP2 laboratory, Grenoble, INSERM; France
Fields of Interest: Causal inference, observational data, sleep cohorts
Candidate: Tamar Shochat, Israel
Affiliation: Professor, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Cheryl Spencer, Israel
Fields of Interest: Insomnia; Shift work; Chronotype
Respiratory
Candidate: Andras Bikov, United Kingdom
Affiliation:Specialty lead for sleep, long-term ventilation, COPD and community respiratory team services/Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, North West Lung Centre Department, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
Fields of Interest: OSA, COPD, Hypoventilation, Lipid metabolism, cardiovascular diseases, sleep, obstructive sleep apena, asthma, COPD, non-invasive ventilation
Candidate: Georgia Trakada, Greece
Affiliation:Scientific Director, Clinical Therapeutics, Division of Pulmonology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Fields of Interest: Sleep apnoea, sleepiness, chronobiology
Sleep Technology
Candidate: Ding Zou, Sweden
Affiliation:Senior Researcher, Center for Sleep and Vigilance Disorders, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Fields of Interest: Pulse wave signal analysis, home sleep apnea testing, cardiovascular and autonomic regulation during sleep, OSA endotype analysis, pharmacological treatment of OSA
Candidate: Michał Harańczyk, Poland
Affiliation: Cardiologist, Department of Diagnostic Medicine, John Paul II Hospital, Kraków, Poland
Fields of Interest: Sleep Apnoea, AI in sleep medicine, Home Sleep Testing, Innovation
Candidate: Samanta Dall Agnese, Brazil
Affiliation: Physician / Sleep scientific lead , Sleep Medicine, Private office / Sleepie, Brazil
Fields of Interest: Sleep Technology, Public Health