Aisling Heavey

Associate Professor Aisling Heavey is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Edith Cowan University. Her academic career includes qualifications in Veterinary Medicine (PhD), Biomedical Science (MSc), and Nursing (BSc). Her research focuses on sleep's role in health and disease across diverse populations, with particular emphasis on caregiving, diabetes, and aging. She co-founded the ECU Collaborative Sleep Research Group and has supervised numerous M.Sc and PhD students. Key awards include the 2020 Sigma Theta Tau Emerging Nurse Leader award and the 2020 ERA bursary. Recent research projects include sleep interventions for dementia caregivers and vitamin D-glucose homeostasis correlations. She has held grants totaling over AUD 81k from ECU and the Australian Association of Gerontology.

• Education:
• PhD in Veterinary Medicine, Ireland (2015)
• MSc in Biomedical Science, Northern Ireland (2010)
• BSc in General Nursing (Third Class Honours), Ireland (2008)
• Research Themes:
• Sleep in chronic disease management
• Vitamin D and metabolic health
• Nursing education innovation
• Recent Projects:
• Developing sleep interventions for dementia caregivers (2020-2023)
• Early dementia intervention programs (2019-2021)
• Sleep-glucose homeostasis in caregivers (2018-2020)

Her work bridges clinical practice and research, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration. Publications span sleep medicine, rheumatology, and medical education. Supervision focuses on translational research topics like vitamin D metabolism and pregnancy outcomes.