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Colin Espie PhD, DSc, FMedSci, FBPsS, FRCGP(Hon), FAASM (born 1957) is a Scottish Professor of Sleep Medicine in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Somerville College. He is closely involved with the development of the Sir Jules Thorn Sleep & Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi) where he is Founding Director of the Experimental & Clinical Sleep Medicine Research programme, and Clinical Director of the Oxford Online Programme in Sleep Medicine. His particular areas of research expertise are in the assessment and treatment of sleep disorders, most particularly the management of insomnia using cognitive behavioral therapy, and in studies on the aetiology and pathophysiology of insomnia.
Colin Espie was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School (leaving in 1974), and subsequently completed a BSc (Psychology, 1978) and an MAppSci (Clinical Psychology, 1980) at the University of Glasgow. In 1980 he commenced practice in NHS Lanarkshire's mental health services, where he first encountered insomnia as a common complaint. This led to his PhD (1987) in sleep disorders and his career-long interest in the assessment and management of Insomnia Disorder. Over the years, Espie has held many senior clinical and academic positions, including as a Clinical Director in NHS Ayrshire & Arran (1988-1995) and Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Glasgow (1995-2012) where he also founded the UoG Sleep Centre. Whilst in Glasgow he developed the research portfolio model for the Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) that became adopted by clinical training courses across the UK. Espie joined the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience,University of Oxford in 2013, the year in which he was also awarded a DSc in respect of his contributions to sleep science and practice. His work at Oxford has established a lasting legacy of sleep research and sleep medicine training. He was the Founding Director of the 'Better Sleep' programme in the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre. He has held adjunct or visiting professorial appointments at the University of Sydney, University of Rome (la Sapienza), Universite Laval (Quebec City) and University of Rochester (NY).
Espie has served on many academic, research, and professional society boards (including the European Sleep Research Society, World Sleep Society, Journal of Sleep Research, Sleep Medicine Reviews) and has been widely recognised by his peers. He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the BABCP (British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies) in 2015, was awarded the Mary A. Carskadon Outstanding Educator Award by the Sleep Research Society in 2017, and the Peter Hauri Career Distinguished Achievement Award by the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine in 2021. Espie is an Emeritus Professor in the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow. In 2010, Espie co-founded the digital therapeutics company Big Health, with entrepreneur Peter Hames. The first programme, Sleepio is a fully automated digital CBT for insomnia program, launched in 2010 to make evidence-based digital CBT (dCBT or 'digital medicine') accessible at population scale. The Sleepio programme has been validated in 16 pre-registered randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and received a UK NICE Guideline in May 2022, and in the US, FDA clearance for SleepioRx was issued in 2024. Espie also makes regular contributions to print, radio, TV and podcast media on what sleep is, why it matters, how to manage sleep, sleep and mental health, as well as mental health service design.
Colin Espie has published over 350 scientific papers and has written and edited several books.
Selected Papers
Espie, C. A., Broomfield, N. M., MacMahon, K. M., Macphee, L. M., & Taylor, L. M. (2006). The attention-intention-effort pathway in the development of psychophysiologic insomnia: a theoretical review. Sleep medicine reviews, 10(4), 215–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2006.03.002
Espie, C.A., MacMahon, K.M.A., Kelly, H-L., Broomfield, N.M., Douglas, N.J., Engleman, H.E., McKinstry, B., Morin, C.M. Walker, A. & Wilson, P. (2007) Randomised clinical effectiveness trial of nurse-administered small group CBT for persistent insomnia in general practice. Sleep 30, 574-584
Espie, C.A., Fleming, L., Cassidy, J., Samuel, L., Taylor, L.M., White, C.A., Douglas, N.J., Engleman, H.E., Kelly, H-L. & Paul, J. (2008) Randomized controlled clinical effectiveness trial of Cognitive Behavior Therapy versus Treatment as Usual for persistent insomnia in cancer patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology 26, 4651-4658
Espie, C.A., Kyle, S.D, Williams, C., Ong, J.C., Douglas, N.J., Hames, P., & Brown, J.S.L. (2012) A randomized, placebo-controlled, trial of online Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for chronic Insomnia Disorder delivered via an automated media-rich web application. SLEEP 35, 769-781
Espie, C.A., Emsley, R., Kyle, S.D., Gordon, C., Drake, C.L., Siriwardena, A.N., Cape, J., Ong, J.C., Sheaves, B., Foster, R., et al. (2019). Effect of Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia on Health, Psychological Well-being, and Sleep-Related Quality of Life: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry 76, 21-30.
Espie, C.A., Kyle, S.D., Hames, P., Gardani, M., Fleming, L., &Cape, J. (2014). The Sleep Condition Indicator: a clinical screening tool to evaluate Insomnia Disorder. BMJ Open 4:e004183.
Freeman, D., Sheaves, B., Goodwin, G.M., Yu, L.M., Nickless, A., Harrison, P.J., Emsley, R., Luik, A.I., Foster, R.G., Wadekar, V., Hinds, C., Gumley, A., Jones, R., Lightman, S., Jones, S., Bentall, R., Kinderman, P., Rowse, G., Brugha, T., Blagrove, M., Gregory, A.M., Fleming, L., Walklet, E., Glazebrook, C., Davies, E.B., Hollis, C., Haddock, G., John, B., Coulson, M., Fowler, D., Pugh, K., Cape, J., Moseley, P., Brown, G., Hughes, C., Obonsawin, M., Coker, S., Watkins, E., Schwannauer, M., MacMahon, K., Siriwardena, A.N. & Espie, C.A. (2017). The effects of improving sleep on mental health (OASIS): a randomised controlled trial with mediation analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry 4, 749-758.
Maurer, L.F., Espie, C.A., Omlin, X., Reid, M.J., Sharman, R., Gavriloff, D., Emsley, R & Kyle S.D. (2020). Isolating the role of time in bed restriction in the treatment of insomnia: A randomized, controlled, dismantling trial comparing sleep restriction therapy with time in bed regularization. SLEEP 43(11) zsaa096
Stott, R, Pimm, J, Emsley, R., Miller, C.B., & Espie, C.A. (2021) Does adjunctive digital CBT for insomnia improve clinical outcomes in an improving access to psychological therapies service? Behavior Research & Therapy 144, 103922
Espie, C.A., Torous, J. & Brennan, T.A. (2022) Digital therapeutics should be regulated with gold standard evidence. Health Affairs Forefront, 0.1377/forefront.20220223.739329
Espie, C. A., Firth, J., & Torous, J. (2022). Evidence-informed is not enough: digital therapeutics also need to be evidence-based. World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 21(2), 320–321. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20993
Kyle, S. D., Siriwardena, A. N., Espie, C. A., Yang, Y., Petrou, S., Ogburn, E., Begum, N., Maurer, L. F., Robinson, B., Gardner, C., Lee, V., Armstrong, S., Pattinson, J., Mort, S., Temple, E., Harris, V., Yu, L. M., Bower, P., & Aveyard, P. (2023). Clinical and cost-effectiveness of nurse-delivered sleep restriction therapy for insomnia in primary care (HABIT): a pragmatic, superiority, open-label, randomised controlled trial. Lancet (London, England), 402(10406), 975–987. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00683-9
Fleming, M. K., Smejka, T., Macey, E., Luengo-Fernandez, R., Henry, A. L., Robinson, B., Kyle, S. D., Espie, C. A., & Johansen-Berg, H. (2024). Improving sleep after stroke: A randomised controlled trial of digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. Journal of sleep research, 33(2), e13971. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13971
Espie C. A. (2023). Revisiting the Psychobiological Inhibition Model: a conceptual framework for understanding and treating insomnia using cognitive and behavioural therapeutics (CBTx). Journal of sleep research, 32(6), e13841. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13841
Rapaport, P., Amador, S., Adeleke, M. O., Barber, J. A., Banerjee, S., Charlesworth, G., Clarke, C., Espie, C. A., Gonzalez, L., Horsley, R., Hunter, R., Kyle, S. D., Manela, M., Raczek, M., Walker, Z., Webster, L., Yuan, H., & Livingston, G. (2024). Clinical effectiveness of DREAMS START (Dementia Related Manual for Sleep; Strategies for Relatives) versus usual care for people with dementia and their carers: a single-masked, phase 3, parallel-arm, superiority randomised controlled trial. The lancet. Healthy longevity, 5(10), 100635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanhl.2024.08.004
Espie C. A. (2025). Yawning as Therapy? The Potential of the Conditioned Yawn Reflex as a Novel Treatment for Insomnia Disorder. Journal of sleep research, 34(5), e70142. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.70142
Tamm, S., Tse, K. Y. K., Hellier, J., Saunders, K. E. A., Harmer, C. J., Espie, C. A., Reid, M., & Kyle, S. D. (2025). Emotional Processing Following Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in People With Depressive Symptoms: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA network open, 8(2), e2461502. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.61502
Meng, R., Huang, M., Miller, C. B., Fong, D. Y. T., Gregory, A. M., Pakpour, A. H., Dzierzewski, J. M., Henry, A. L., Voinescu, B. I., Yang, N., Ma, H., Luo, Y., Lau, E. Y. Y., Spruyt, K., & Espie, C. A. (2025). Global perspectives on the Sleep Condition Indicator for DSM-5 insomnia disorder: a COSMIN and STARD systematic review of psychometric and diagnostic performance. BMC medicine, 23(1), 542. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-025-04285-7
Espie, C.A. (2021) Overcoming Insomnia: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques, 2nd edition. Little, Brown Book Group, London. ISBN-13: 9781472141415
Baglioni, C., Espie, C.A., & Riemann D. (2022) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia across the Lifespan: Guidelines and Clinical Protocols for Health Professionals. Wiley & Sons, London, and New York. ISBN: 9781119785132
Espie, C.A. (2025) The Clinician’s Guide to Cognitive and Behavioural Therapeutics (CBTx) for Insomnia: a Scientist-Practitioner Approach. Cambridge University Press, UK. ISBN: 9781108989480
Espie, C.A., Zee, P., & Morin, C.M. (due 2023) The Oxford Handbook of Sleep and Sleep Disorders (Oxford Library of Psychology) 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN: 9780197602751
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