During the course of the ESRS Business Meeting held Thursday 29 September 2022, at Sleep Europe 2022 in Athens, Greece, new members of the Board and Scientific Committee were elected. Professor Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, Professor of Sleep Physiology and DPAG's Director of Graduate Studies, has been appointed the Society's Vice President (Basic).
Vyazovskiy group research has been instrumental in furthering our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms of sleep regulation, and indeed the overall function of sleep. Late last year, new research led by Professor Vyazovskiy found that the hypothalamus is responsible for regulating the qualitative dimension of wakefulness and sleep. The findings, published in the journal PNAS, allowed the Vyazovskiy Lab to posit that it is not just time spent awake that determines the rates of build-up of homeostatic sleep pressure and propensity for state switching, i.e., ‘sleep need’, but rather wake ‘intensity’ or ‘quality’. Thus, they proposed a novel concept they call the ‘switch with a spring’ model.
On receiving news of his appointment, Professor Vyazovskiy said: "I was absolutely delighted to be elected as a Vice President. This year we are celebrating 50-years of the Society, which was founded back in 1972. The ESRS was instrumental in bringing together basic sleep researchers and sleep clinicians, and provided a much-needed platform for sharing knowledge and promoting sleep research and sleep medicine in Europe and in the rest of the world. I look forward to working with the rest of the ESRS Board and the wider community and contribute to the success of our Society."
The ESRS is an international scientific non-profit organisation with the purpose of promoting research on sleep and related areas, improving the care for patients with sleep disorders, and facilitating the dissemination of information regarding sleep research and sleep medicine. For more information about the ESRS, for its half centenary, the Journal of Sleep Research has published "The European Sleep Research Society – past, present and future".