Prof Daniel SmithAcademic

Biography

Professor Daniel Smith is Chair of Psychiatry and Head of the Division of Psychiatry within the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, a post he has held since April 2021. He also works as an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist with NHS Lothian, specialising in bipolar disorder. His research covers the genetic epidemiology of mood disorders, the interface between major mental illness and cardiometabolic disease, and — his current primary focus — sleep and circadian science in relation to mental illness. He leads the interdisciplinary MRC-funded UK Circadian Mental Health Network and is principal investigator for two major Wellcome Trust programme grants on bipolar disorder (AMBIENT-BD and HELIOS-BD). He has received numerous awards for his research including a Lister Institute Prize Fellowship (2016) and the Saltire Society Fletcher of Saltoun Award for Science (2026).

References

1. 1.Professor Daniel Smith | The University of Edinburgh — Current role, research focus, qualifications, career history, grants and student supervision
2. 2.Daniel Smith – University of Edinburgh Research Explorer — Role, MRC network leadership, Wellcome grants, awards including Fletcher of Saltoun 2026, metabolic psychiatry hub
3. 3.Former Fellow Professor Daniel Smith awarded £6.5m funding to explore circadian rhythms and bipolar disorder – Lister Institute — £6.5m Wellcome grant as PI, launch of UK Circadian Mental Health Research Network, NHS Lothian honorary role
4. 4.Professor Daniel Smith appointed Head of the Division of Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh – Lister Institute — Appointment to Edinburgh chair, prior role at Glasgow, Lister Prize Fellowship 2016, career background

Expertise

Cited on

• Mental health

Stated areas of expertise

• Bipolar disorder
• Circadian science and mental health
• Chronopsychiatry
• Genetic epidemiology of mood disorders
• Mental illness and cardiometabolic comorbidity
• Sleep research

Notable achievements

• Awarded £6.5 million as principal investigator for two Wellcome Trust Mental Health programme grants (HELIOS-BD and AMBIENT-BD) on circadian rhythms and bipolar disorder Source ↗
• Founded and leads the MRC-funded UK Circadian Mental Health Research Network, based at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences Source ↗
• Received the Saltire Society Fletcher of Saltoun Award for Science (2026) Source ↗
• Leads the new interdisciplinary Hub for Metabolic Psychiatry (2024–2029), part of the UKRI Mental Health Platform Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “changes in brain glutamate levels were correlated with symptomatic improvement, but that was not very strong evidence, because it's a small sample size.”

  professor of psychiatry at Edinburgh · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · No evidence behind RFK Jr’s claim keto diet can cure schizophrenia, experts say ↗

• “Increasingly, both anecdotal and experimental evidence suggests that bipolar people are quite sensitive to light, which can be unhelpful for them in terms of seasonal changes in mood and more manic relapses with the lengthening days in springtime.”

  psychiatrist at the University of Edinburgh, leads the UK Circadian Mental Health Network · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · Out of the blue? How the colour of light could be used to treat mental illness ↗

Source references

1. No evidence behind RFK Jr’s claim keto diet can cure schizophrenia, experts saytheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. Out of the blue? How the colour of light could be used to treat mental illnesstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/professor-daniel-j-smith
• Xhttps://x.com/ProfDanielSmithpublished here ↗
• Websitehttps://www.circadianmentalhealth.org/daniel-smith

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.