UCL IEDE represented at Lightfair International conference

Navaz Davoodian and Jemima Unwin, UCL IEDE staff members, represented UCL at LightFair International in San Diego 26-28th April 2016. Their seminar was well received by the audience and was successful in raising awareness of street lighting research at UCL in the US. The aim of the seminar was to present the basic science behind pedestrian needs which could be used to inform good lighting design which contributes to making streets feel safe and welcoming to pedestrians. The course was loosely based around the following themes:

- What do people look at at night?
- Does light make the environment more reassuring?
- Interpersonal judgement
- Does lighting effect route choice?
- Does light affect walkability of streets at night?
- Older pedestrians and street lighting

It tackled quite a few tricky issues such as the effect of enclosed environments and scaremongering headlines. The learning objectives of the seminar were:

- Understanding how scientific ideas in pedestrian lighting can be harnessed to solve problems and the use of simple design ideas to improve our nightscape
- Application of ideas about human factors and lighting into the design of street and landscape lighting
- Knowledge of how street lighting can affect pedestrian experience and street use at night
- How to provide maximum pedestrian benefit for minimum electrical load

A popular part of the seminar was the demonstration of eye tracking equipment from Naghmeh Shafiei of SensoMotoric Instruments. A member of the audience was asked to wear the eye tracker and walk around the room whilst what they were looking at was projected to the audience. This method provides empirical data regarding what we look at.

The event was attended by lighting manufacturers and practitioners alike, providing a good opportunity to disseminate knowledge to a non academic audience.