PhD: Sleep, sleep loss, and esports performance

The aim of the research is to understand how esport athletes sleep, what constitutes esports performance, and how sleep loss may affect esports performance.

Funded by: Irish Research Council (IRC) & Logitech: Employment-Based Postgraduate Programme Scholarship 2019 (EBPPG/2019/21).

Teaching and Research Interests: 

Field based sleep research, jet-lag, cognitive performance, esports performance

  • BSc (1st Hons) Human Sciences, University of Western Australia 
Publications

Publications

  • Smithies, T. D., Toth, A. J., Dunican, I. C., Caldwell, J. A., Kowal, M., & Campbell, M. J. (2021). The effect of sleep restriction on cognitive performance in elite cognitive performers: a systematic review. Sleep, 44(7), zsab008. doi:10.1093/sleep/zsab008  
  • Smithies, T. D., Campbell, M. J., Ramsbottom, N., & Toth, A. J. (2021). A Random Forest approach to identify metrics that best predict match outcome and player ranking in the esport Rocket League. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 19285. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-98879-9 
  • Smithies, T. D., Eastwood, P. R., Walsh, J., Murray, K., Markwick, W., & Dunican, I. C. (2021). Around the world in 16 days: the effect of long-distance transmeridian travel on the sleep habits and behaviours of a professional Super Rugby team. Journal of Sports Sciences, 39(22), 2596-2602. doi:10.1080/02640414.2021.1947617 
  • Kowal, M., Conroy, E., Ramsbottom, N., Smithies, T. D., Toth, A. J., & Campbell, M. C. (2021). Gaming Your Mental Health: A Narrative Review on Mitigating Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Using Commercial Video Games. JMIR Serious Games, 9(2), e26575. doi:10.2196/26575 
  • Smithies, T. D., Toth, A. J., Conroy, E., Ramsbottom, N., Kowal, M., & Campbell, M. J. (2020). Life After Esports: A Grand Field Challenge. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00883 

Conferences/Talks:

Keynote Speaker: “The Effect of Sleep Restriction on Cognitive Performance in Elite Cognitive Performers: A Systematic Review”  2020.  University of California, Irvine (UCI) Esports Conference (Online)             

Other 

Sleep4Performance Seminar (Online)  2021 

  • “Around the world in 16 days: The effect of long-distance transmeridian travel on the sleep habits and behaviours of a professional Super Rugby team” - First place for best presentation. 
  • “The Effect of Sleep Restriction on Cognitive Performance Among Elite Cognitive Performers: A Systematic Review” – Third place for best presentation.