Spotlight

Artificial light at night (ALAN) has been identified as a primary driver of environmental change in the 21st century with key consequences for both ecological and human systems.

Spotlight an SNF Sinergia project, offering a scientific platform to establish a future-oriented, sustainable outdoor lighting infrastructure and contribute to updating and optimizing current lighting practices and standards. The project draws on the latest developments in LED technology and leverages promising options to mitigate negative impacts of light pollution on the ecological environment while meeting human needs for safety, aesthetics, and well-being. With a strong, interdisciplinary consortium of lighting engineers, ecologists, and social scientists, we are making an essential contribution to a more evidence-based debate on light pollution.

Spotlight offers outstanding opportunities and synergies to fill gaps in existing knowledge of light pollution, light impact on ecological systems, human well-being, and perception in a concerted action, integrating state-of-the-art technological knowledge for designing sustainable outdoor lighting pathways.

The project will have a broad impact beyond academia by engaging lighting design and practice at national and international levels. This will facilitate the wide dissemination of new knowledge and enable updates and adjustments to lighting standards and guidelines to mitigate current and future outdoor lighting challenges related to biodiversity, human health, and safety, while raising public awareness that light pollution can pose a threat to people and the environment.