Our Mission
The International Sleep Charity (ISC) was founded in 2020. The ISC believes that everybody deserves a good night’s sleep. Our mission is to help millions of people across the globe improve their health and well-being by sleeping better. We do this through facilitating a collaborative global platform for grassroots movements to use as a launchpad for their own groundbreaking, sleep-changing initiatives.
Meet the Team
Leadership
Charlie Oulton
Co-Founder
Charlie brings over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, with an established track record of founding and building successful companies - large and small. Charlie is truly passionate about helping people sleep better, having suffered greatly on a personal level from poor sleep. Charlie holds a BSc in Metallurgy from Imperial College London.
Yizhou Yu
Co-Founder & Research Co-Leader
Yizhou is co-founder of Imperial College Sleep Society. He is currently a PhD candidate in Neurotoxicology at the University of Cambridge, performing basic science research in neurodegeneration, namely Alzheimer’s Disease, employing the latest data science techniques. He holds a BSc in Biological Sciences from Imperial College London.
Dr Connor Qiu
Co-Founder
Connor is an Academic Clinical Fellow in Primary Care and General Practice at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London. He is an Honorary Clinical Research Fellow in the School of Public Health, Imperial College London. He holds a Master’s in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge, a Bachelor’s in Medical Sciences with Management and a medical degree from Imperial College London.
Connor is co-founder of SleepImperial, Imperial College Sleep Society and Cambridge University Sleep Society.
Kathryn O’Hara
Charity Manager
Kathryn is an experienced Marketing and eCommerce Manager with a BA (Hons) degree in Business and Marketing.
She has worked in the sleep industry for the past 8 years and has a keen interest in the charity sector, having undertaken voluntary work from a young age including work in the fundraising department for Marie Curie UK.
Research & Innovation
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Suleyman Noordeen - Research Co-Leader
Suleyman is a current medical student at the university of Cambridge, with an intercalated degree in psychology, neuroscience and behaviour. He has a longstanding interest in sleep medicine, mental health and psychiatry, with a special interest in neglected populations in sleep research. Alongside Dr Poh Wang and Yizhou Yu, Suleyman has contributed to the undertaking of several keystone projects, and is engaged with the coordination and management of the research team.
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Dr Poh Wang - Research Co-Leader
PJ is a Junior Doctor working at King's College Hospital- London. He trained at Imperial College London and specialised in Respiratory Sciences at the National Heart and Lung Institute.
He has an interest in the respiratory physiology of sleep and the practicalities of sleep improvement. He also takes a keen interest in Charity work and the promotion of good sleep habits in the general public and medical staff.
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Rebeka Popovic
Rebeka is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge.
She graduated from the University of Surrey with a BSc in Biochemistry, which included a nine-month placement at the La Sapienza University in Rome. Her bachelor thesis explored the effects of sleep deprivation on neuronal activity in the cortex during recovery sleep, based on two-photon calcium imaging data in mice. She continued her education at King’s College London with an MSc in Neuroscience, specialising in neurodegeneration research.
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Mehmet Ergisi
Mehmet is a medical student at Imperial College London and the Treasurer for Sleep Imperial. Over the past year, he has researched into better sleep habits and reaped the benefits after implementing a healthier night-time routine.
He is interested in promoting the importance of sleep to younger people and university students, as he has witnessed how others will sacrifice sleep to make more time for other priorities. He also wants to investigate the power of sleep for athletes and its effect on recovery.
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Dr Emmanuel Adebiyi
Emmanuel is currently a junior doctor with a keen interest in sleep and occupational health. He is Head of Original Content at SleepImperial. He graduated from University College London with a MBBS medical degree and BSc in Medical Sciences with Medical Anthropology.
How we will do it:
Organise ‘superstar’ events led by world-leading sleep scientists on sleep. By learning more about the function of sleep, we will be able to sleep better.
Provide essential resources to everyone who wants to sleep better. Starting with free, clinically validated Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT-I) sessions for those that will benefit, kindly provided by our partners and donors.
Leverage the outstanding capability of graduate students and academics from leading research universities around the world. We will have a robust understanding of sleep research and technologies. We will independently validate and test prototypes for sleep-related businesses, preventing a ‘free-for-all’ claims in the sleep business market and help set scientifically accountable standards for industry.
Provide an easily-accessible platform for sleep-related dialogue through discussion forums and large-scale video-conferencing. Sharing is caring.
Tackle broader social and environmental determinants impacting poor sleep by engaging with stakeholders to facilitate a good night’s rest (e.g. replacing old mattresses and helping provide a safe place to sleep).
Past Contributors
Dr Laith Alexander
Laith is an academic junior doctor in psychiatry and neuroscience at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. He graduated from Cambridge University with a distinction in clinical medicine as part of the MB/PhD course. His PhD in Neuroscience explored the function of regions of the prefrontal cortex implicated in depression and anxiety.
George Makrakis
George is currently a medical student at Imperial College London and the Secretary of Sleep Imperial.
After undertaking a yearlong course on Advances in Modern Psychology at Imperial college, he has been involved in projects exploring the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychology of healthcare professionals as well as its effects in both spontaneous and IVF pregnancies (in the 3rd department of obs and gynae, University of Athens.) He is interested on the effects of Sleep on neurodegenerative diseases.
Nerissa Culi
Nerissa received her MSci in Neuroscience from The University of Nottingham where she spent her placement year exploring the role of inflammation in the development of Alzheimer’s Disease using MRI and Computational techniques. Nerissa now works in digital marketing where she exercises her analytical skills as a Tech Account Manager.
Marco Travaglio
Marco is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge. His research explores mechanisms of toxicity in both mouse and human ES-derived neurons to study the pathological events that lead to selective cell death in neurodegenerative diseases. Marco graduated from The University of Nottingham and has experience in translational neuroscience drug discovery. Currently, he serves as Editor in Chief at Knowing Neurons, an award-winning neuroscience website that connects graduate students, academics and healthcare professionals across the globe.