28 November 2023
Daylight Awareness Week 2023 – videos now available!
The Daylight Awareness Week 2023 is over, but don’t worry, you can still watch the content online!
This year’s Daylight Awareness Week was focused on how humans’ perception of sunlight has evolved over time. Researchers from a wide range of disciplines provided unique insights via online lectures, discussions and articles.
In our opening webinar, we had the pleasure to host a series of talks around the topic “The Sun and us: ancient times and traditional knowledge”. The online talk Plants, Sun, and People in Vanuatu is now available online:
The talk was held by Dr Gregory M. Plunkett (Floristics and Molecular Systematics, New York Botanical Garden, USA) and Dr Dominik M. Ramík (IT, Linguistics Independent researcher, Tanna, Vanuatu).
We were also pleased to have the opportunity to organise the 6th edition of the deLIGHTed Talks in collaboration with the Good Light Group, the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms (SLTBR), and Luger Research. Titled “History of Good Light – Beyond the Visual Spectrum”, the event tackled the questions of what kind of light we actually need and why our (day)light habits have such an important effect on our health and well-being.
This webinar was moderated by DLA member Dr Priji Balakrishnan (Technical University of Berlin, Germany) and featured Prof. Timo Partonen (Finnish institute for health and welfare, Helsinki, Finland) and Dr Anne Berends (Seaborough, The Netherlands).
The contemporary societal debate around the use of sunlight as an energy source was explored through the prism of the documentary “A Road Not Taken”, directed by Christina Hemauer and Roman Keller. This was followed by a panel that saw the film’s creators and relevant scientists discuss how politics and culture play a key role in shaping our adoption of solar power. The debate is now available online:
The panel discussion, moderated by Prof. Burkhard König (Fakultät für Chemie und Pharmazie, University of Regensburg, Germany), featured the two film makers as well as eminent solar energy expert, Prof. em. Jean-Louis Scartezzini (Director of EPFL Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory, EPFL, Switzerland).
Aside from online lectures and debates, the Daylight Awareness Week 2023 also featured several articles and two podcast episodes focusing on aspects such as the role of daylight in architecture, or the disinfection powers of sunlight. A more detailed list of materials for each topic explored during the week can be found here: https://daylight.academy/daylight-awareness-week-2023/
Thanks to everyone who took part in the Daylight Awareness Week 2023! We hope to see even more of you next year.