People

Meet the project team behind ‘Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World’

Sasha Handley

Sasha Handley is Professor of Early Modern History at The University of Manchester and is the Principal Investigator on the ‘Sleeping well in the Early Modern World’ project.

Sasha’s research explores ideas, practices, environments, and objects relating to sleep in the early modern period, and she is an expert on material culture methodologies, women’s history, and histories of everyday life in the period.

Holly Fletcher

Holly Fletcher is a Postdoctoral Research Associate on the project ‘Sleeping well in the Early Modern World’. Her research focuses on the history of the body and its interactions with the material world in the early modern period. Prior to joining the project, Holly taught early modern history at the University of Sussex. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2020 with a thesis examining the cultural significance of body size and shape in early modern Germany.

Lucy Elliott

Lucy Elliott is a PhD student at The University of Manchester. She received a BA in History and MA History of Medicine from Newcastle University. Lucy’s research interests centre on early modern cultural and medical histories, with particular focus upon Britain and England’s American colonies. Her PhD thesis will explore how the early modern environment and climatological change shaped the practice and perception of sleep.

Anna Fielding

Anna is received her PhD in 2023 from Manchester Metropolitan University, for her thesis on early modern commensality (eating together) and National Trust properties in the north west of England. She is project officer for ‘Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World’, based at Ordsall Hall in Salford. Anna translates the research of the sleep team into workshops and events for Ordsall’s visitors and school groups. She recreates early modern sleep remedies, using produce from the garden, and links domestic sleep care to the surrounding environment. Her work ensures that the project’s research on early modern sleep is accessible to all. The public can try out remedies, learn more about early modern approaches, and consider the links between historical sleep advice and the importance of good sleep today. Anna has worked with the National Trust for several years on collaborative academic projects, including during her PhD. Her research includes work on how to effectively combine historical research with heritage and public engagement.

Eleanor Shaw

Eleanor Shaw is the project officer for ‘Sleeping well in the early modern world’ and looks after the project administration and organisation. She has previously worked in health and development roles, administering professional development and health projects with midwives and GPs around the globe. She is also a final year part time PhD student, finishing her PhD on the development of medical journals in the 20^th century and how the kinds of communities that medical journals become impacts the research they fund, support, publish and publicise.

Abi Greenall

Abi Greenall is a teaching fellow in Early Modern History at The University of Manchester. She has recently joined ‘Sleeping well in the Early Modern World’ as Postdoctoral Research Associate and will be helping the team conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of sleep related recipes in manuscript recipe books.

In 2023, Abi held a Visiting Fellowship at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library and completed her PhD at the University of Manchester the same year. Her research uncovers the significance of ‘happiness’ as a socio-cultural practice rooted in the interaction between human bodies, material objects, ideas and feelings in the early modern British World, c. 1550 – 1800.