Dr Andrea Silva-Caballero
UWA School of Human Sciences
Bio
Dr Silva-Caballero completed her BA in Physical Anthropology at Mexico’s National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH) in 2013 before moving to the UK for postgraduate study at Durham University, where she obtained an MSc in Evolutionary Medicine (2017) and a PhD in Biological Anthropology (2022). Her doctoral research examined adolescent sleep-wake patterns across different cultural and environmental settings, comparing young people in urban and Indigenous-rural Mexican communities through anthropological, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives.
In 2023, Dr Silva-Caballero returned to Mexico to take up a postdoctoral research position at the Institute for Anthropological Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (IIA-UNAM). There, she continued investigating the biological, social, and cultural influences on human sleep. She also collaborates with the Sleep and Human Evolution Lab at the University of Toronto and has received fellowships from the Wenner-Gren Foundation and Mexico’s Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation (SECIHTI).
In November 2026, Dr Silva-Caballero joined UWA’s School of Human Sciences as a Lecturer. Her research continues to explore human sleep from an anthropological perspective, investigating how biology, culture, and living environments shape sleep patterns and health. Her current work extends this approach to Pacific fishing communities, examining sleep in the context of changing social and environmental conditions.
Research Summary
Dr Silva-Caballero’s research explores the relationships between human biology, ecology, and culture, with a particular focus on sleep, circadian rhythms, and adolescent development. Using a biocultural and cross-cultural approach, she investigates how environmental conditions, social relationships, cultural practices, and changing ways of life shape human sleep and health. Her work includes:
Human sleep ecology and the development of sleep-wake patterns and circadian rhythms across different populations and environments.
Evolutionary and sociocultural approaches to the anthropology of sleep, including the influence of market integration, technological change, light exposure, and social sleep practices on human sleep.
The relationships between sleep, dreaming, and emotional experience across cultural contexts.
Medical anthropology and health inequalities, with a focus on orofacial clefts, birth outcomes, and the social and environmental factors shaping health and disease.
Work and Education History
2026-now: Lecturer, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
2023-2026: Post-doctoral Researcher, Institute of Anthropological Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
2017-2022: PhD in Biological Anthropology, Durham University, United Kingdom
2015-2016: MSc in Evolutionary Medicine (Merit), Durham University, United Kingdom
2007-2011: BA in Physical Anthropology (Summa Cum Laude), National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH), Mexico City, Mexico
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