Early Career Researcher Award to shake up sleep with AI
Australia’s five million shiftworkers can hope for smarter shuteye and healthier lifestyles, thanks to Australian Government backing for innovative CQUniversity sleep research.
CQUniversity sleep researcher Dr Grace Vincent has been awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), receiving $488,579 over three years to develop a digital sleep assistant.
While Australians are increasingly turning to wearable technology to help track and improve their sleep, current sleep apps don’t cater to the unpredictable and variable sleep patterns of workers on shift and on-call, and gig workers.
Dr Vincent’s research will adapt an existing physical activity digital assistant, and harness machine learning to hyper-personalise sleep and exercise advice for those who don’t work standard hours.
“More than a third of Australia’s workforce work non-standard hours, outside 9am-6pm, and we know these workers are nearly twice as likely to make errors, have accidents or be injured on the job,” Dr Vincent said.
“Studies show that body clock disruption, limited time for sleep, and not having opportunities for exercise are behind many of these issues – so this project wants to help these workers find optimum times in their schedule for sleep and exercise.”
The average shiftworker sleeps one hour a day less than a dayworker, losing the equivalent of an entire night’s sleep each week.
“Promoting better sleep for these millions of Australians means safer, healthier and more productive people and workplaces,” Dr Vincent said.
“Our research team is excited to create a digital assistant that provides personalised sleep and physical activity advice, based on individual work patterns, and optimised for our unpredictable lives!”
Her project is one of 200 to share in $92.9 million DECRA funding, announced this week by ARC.
“The ARC Discovery Program has an impressive track record in generating new knowledge that addresses a significant problem or gap in knowledge, and it offers exciting opportunities for Australia’s promising early career researchers to develop in supportive environments,” ARC Acting Chief Executive Officer, Dr Richard Johnson said.
Dr Vincent’s project will be led from Appleton Institute, CQUniversity’s Adelaide-based flagship research centre for behavioural sciences across physical activity, sleep and biological rhythms, and operational readiness.
