(Germany) – Light Symposium Wismar 2016 (LSW 2016) is a three-day international forum that will bring together recent insights into the effects of healthy light and lighting in daily life with respect to research, theory, technologies, design, and applications.

Following the popular symposia in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015 in Wismar and Stockholm, the fifth edition aims to deliver a state-of-the-art outline of how natural and artificial light affects human beings’ physical and mental health, efficiency, and performance. The symposium offers an outstanding occasion for researchers, students, and practitioners to keep up-to-date with recent findings.

The LSW 2016 will be held from  October 12th – 14th 2016 and the main theme this year is the Future of Healthy Light and Lighting in daily life. The organisers chose this topic because of the fact that modern lighting technologies and design should address and, if possible, be based on the evidence revealed by scientific studies. The use of new technologies such as LEDs is already changing the future of lighting design and will continue to do so. The title of this year’s LSW 2016 event is a clear pointer to a world that is changing dramatically, with human health and well-being being the area most affected. The impact of this and the opportunities it offers are hard to define right now, which is why they are the subject of our debate.

Also, today and in the future, architectural lighting design needs to better acknowledge the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists, medical researchers, the lighting industry, and lighting designers. Therefore, education and continuing education in the form of such an event is, and will remain, the basis for all developments in the field of lighting design as a discipline and profession.

The interdisciplinary structure of LSW 2016 promotes future-oriented discussion on the importance of light and the lighting design profession. Thirteen renowned speakers from lighting design, art, environmental science and medical science from Germany, the US, Canada, Switzerland, Norway and the UK will be presenting their talks in three different tracks: Lighting Design Practice, Lighting Research and Related Aspects, Medical Science and Lighting.

This year there will be two keynote speakers. On Thursday 13th October Mark Major, lighting designer and founding partner of Speirs + Major, will speak on ‘The Qualities of the Night – Why We Need Light After Dark.’ On Friday 14th October Alexander Wunsch, a physician, researcher and lecturer in light medicine and photobiology with particular interest in the effects of light and the beneficial / adverse health impacts of solar radiation and artificial light sources on endocrine and cellular levels in humans. He will speak on ‘Photoendocrinology and How Natural and Artificial Light Impact on the Human Endocrine System and Hormones.’

The comprehensive supporting programme is also designed to stimulate discussion and debate. The Experience Room where attendees are able to test the latest lighting measuring devices, two guided tours to visit the UNESCO heritage old town of Wismar, networking opportunities during coffee breaks and lunches, Movie Evening, the LSPC16 Award Ceremony culminating with a PLDC 2017 Warm Up Party event – all contribute to expanding LSW16’s reputation as a quality lighting event.

LSW 2016 will also host the final of the students’ and young designers’ speaker competition: The Light Symposium Paper Competition (LSPC16). There are four paper topics: Fundamentals, Architecture, Health, and Design. Four young talents will be competing for the first prize on 13th and 14th October in the final stage.

Within the framework of the final, the speakers will be judged on the quality of the content of their papers and the professional quality of the presentation itself. The jury, supported by independent experts, will decide on an overall winner who will receive a free ticket to the PLDC in Paris, France and have the opportunity to present their paper at the eighth edition of LEDforum in São Paulo, Brazil in 2017. The winner will be announced on Friday 14th October during the LSPC16 Awards Ceremony.

www.lightsymposium.de