DLA Annual Conference &
General Assembly 2024

This year, the Daylight Academy’s Annual Conference and General Assembly took place in the city of Trondheim, Norway, from 30-31 May.

Inspired by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, the conference explored how our interdisciplinary knowledge of daylight can be used to help tackle a variety of societal challenges, such as clean energy, sustainable cities, ecology and health.

A source for photosynthesis, daylight is vital for the global ecosystem. It helps regulate the circadian rhythms of organisms ranging from tiny insects to human beings. The sun’s rays provide a powerful source of energy for our societies. Even outside of the natural sciences, daylight, through various forms, has played an important role in human culture and artistic expression. We believe that daylight is vital for life on our planet and a useful resource to draw on when addressing some of the most important common challenges we face.

At this year’s annual conference, several keynote speakers presented their work with the aim of contributing ideas towards how daylight canbe used in the service of SDGs. Dedicated sessions aimed at increasing interdisciplinary collaboration were also included in the programme.

Co-hosted with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), this year’s conference also included two parallel sessions at the university’s Light and Colour Centre on the second day.

Side activities focused around exploring the historic centre of Trondheim and its architectural jewels also took place, including a lighting demonstration inside the still relatively recently reconstructed Nidaros Cathedral. This event was presented by Erik Selmer, the winner of the 2022 Nordic Lighting Design Award.

Side activities

Programme flyer

Poster booklet

Photo gallery

The conference also featured 13 early-career researchers from a wide variety of academic disciplines, who presented their research to conference participants.