Leigh Signal

Leigh Signal
Signal in 2005
Academic background
Alma mater	Massey University, Massey University, University of Otago
Theses	Shiftwork in air traffic services : coping strategies and well-being (1997) Scheduled napping on the night shift : consequences for the performance and neurophysiological alertness of air traffic controllers (2002)
Doctoral advisor	Philippa Gander
Academic work
Institutions	Massey University

Tracey Leigh Signal is a New Zealand academic, and is a full professor at Massey University, specialising in fatigue and sleep, especially in relation to the aviation industry, and in women and children.

Academic career

Signal trained as a commercial pilot before completing a Master's degree on shiftwork in air traffic services at Massey University,and a PhD in public health at the University of Otago. Her doctoral thesis was titled Scheduled napping on the night shift: consequences for the performance and neurophysiological alertness of air traffic controllers, and was supervised by Philippa Gander. Signal then joined the faculty at Massey, rising to full professor in 2021.

Signal works in the Fatigue Management and Sleep Health group of the Sleep/Wake Centre at Massey University. Her research interests cover two areas, She studies sleep and fatigue avoidance, identification and management in the workplace, particularly in the aviation industry, and in relation to workplace deaths and accidents. She also researches healthy sleep in women and children, changes in sleep that occur at different life stages, and the relationship between sleep and sporting performance. She published a book Sleeping better in pregnancy after experiencing problems sleeping during her own second pregnancy.

Signal has been an invited member of two International Civil Aviation Organisation Fatigue Risk Management Task Forces, and has contributed to national and global standards on civil aviation. She has provided expert advice to the Coroner's Office, WorkSafe New Zealand and to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission.

Selected works

• T Leigh Signal; Jesse Gale; Philippa H Gander (1 November 2005). "Sleep measurement in flight crew: comparing actigraphic and subjective estimates to polysomnography". Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance. 76 (11): 1058–1063. ISSN 0095-6562. PMID 16313142. Wikidata Q48522897.
• T Leigh Signal; Philippa H Gander; Michel R Sangalli; Noemie Travier; Ridvan T Firestone; Jeremy Tuohy (1 February 2007). "Sleep duration and quality in healthy nulliparous and multiparous women across pregnancy and post-partum". Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 47 (1): 16–22. doi:10.1111/J.1479-828X.2006.00672.X. ISSN 0004-8666. PMID 17261094. Wikidata Q48479061.
• Tracey Leigh Signal; Philippa H Gander; Howard Anderson; Sue Brash (1 March 2009). "Scheduled napping as a countermeasure to sleepiness in air traffic controllers". Journal of Sleep Research. 18 (1): 11–19. doi:10.1111/J.1365-2869.2008.00702.X. ISSN 0962-1105. PMID 19250171. Wikidata Q45783189.
• Philippa Gander; Leigh Signal (1 April 2008). "Who is too old for shift work? Developing better criteria". Chronobiology International. 25 (2): 199–213. doi:10.1080/07420520802077556. ISSN 0742-0528. PMID 18484361. Wikidata Q48434874.
• Philippa Gander; Margo van den Berg; Leigh Signal (1 April 2008). "Sleep and sleepiness of fishermen on rotating schedules". Chronobiology International. 25 (2): 389–398. doi:10.1080/07420520802106728. ISSN 0742-0528. PMID 18533331. Wikidata Q48433182.

External links

• Youtube video of Signal talking about pregnancy and post-partum sleep changes in women