The briefing aims at reflecting on this issue by first diving into the research area of sleep for which interdisciplinarity is key. Our first speaker, Björn Rasch (Professor Cognitive Biopsychology and Methods, Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland) will explain how he uses his grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for basic research in the area of sleep. Urs Albrecht (Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland) will then explain which chemicals regulate our circadian clocks that in turn control our bodily functions such as sleep. Finally, Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (President, European Research Council) will share his view on the complex issue of interdisciplinarity and discuss with the first two speakers how it can be best fostered by European funding programmes.