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 was 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 was 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.

Holly is now undertaking a five-year Wellcome Trust Early Career Award at UCL, working on her project ‘The Fats of Life in the Early Modern World, 1500-1750: Matter in Multispecies Medicine’. 

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 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 was project officer for ‘Sleeping Well at Ordsall Hall’. Anna translated the research of the academic team into workshops and events for Ordsall Hall’s visitors and school groups. She recreated early modern sleep remedies, using produce from the garden, and linked domestic sleep care to the surrounding environment. Her work ensured that the project’s research on early modern sleep was accessible to all. Anna 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 was the project officer for ‘Sleeping well in the early modern world’ and managed the administration and evaluation of the project including Sleeping Well at Ordsall Hall. She previously worked in health and development roles, administering professional development and health projects with midwives and GPs around the globe. She also completed her PhD on medical journals in the 20^th century in 2025. 

Abi Greenall

Abi Greenall was a teaching fellow in Early Modern History and Postdoctoral Research Associate to Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World. She contributed to a qualitative and quantitative analysis of sleep related recipes in manuscript recipe books using NVIVO. 

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.