Executive Summary

The Sleep and Circadian Innovation Summit convened academic, clinical, and industry researchers, research funders, regulators, charities, and lived-experience stakeholders to share knowledge and discuss issues and solutions relating to the future translation of research in sleep and circadian science into innovations for mental health.

Sleep and circadian disruption are increasingly recognised as key features across mental health disorders and are consistently identified as priorities by patients. Advances in sensing technologies, including wearable devices, radar sleep monitoring, smartphone-derived behavioural data, and large population cohorts such as the UK Biobank, are enabling large-scale, real-world measurement of sleep and circadian rhythms. However, major barriers, including data interoperability, proprietary algorithms, device instability (e.g., firmware updates, algorithm changes, device discontinuation), and regulatory uncertainty, are slowing their adoption in research and healthcare.

Clinically validated, standardised, and interoperable sleep and circadian metrics are required to support translation into trials and healthcare. Addressing these challenges will require sustained cross-sector collaboration across academia, industry, regulators, healthcare systems, and patient organisations. Collaborative funding initiatives and continued cross-sector convening will be essential to sustain progress and advance sleep-circadian innovation in mental health.

This white paper summarises the discussions, opportunities, and barriers that were identified at the summit and outlines priority actions to accelerate the translation of sleep and circadian science into mental health research, clinical trials, and healthcare.

Read the report here