Speakers

Andrew Bissell FSLL MILP MCIBSE Past Pres SLL, Ridge & Ptnrs

Andrew Bissell is a past president of the Society of Light and Lighting and leads the Ridge lighting design team. He has worked on dark sky projects in the UK and Overseas the largest or most challenging included The SILL in Northumberland; The Sustainable Landscape and Sustainable Places Project in all 8 protected landscapes in Wales; A riverside development in Bath; Neom, Al Ula, La Heq and The Red Sea projects in Saudi Arabia.

Andrew views dark sky projects as an opportunity to continue to deliver the highest quality of architectural lighting whilst also protecting the pristine skies. This should be true whether the client is seeking vibrancy and excitement or a calm and relaxed space, Put simply ‘Every light, specified by every designer on every project, must protect or restore the pristine sky’

Benz Roos MA BA Speirs Major.

Benz studied Architectural Design at the Royal Art Academy, The Hague in The Netherlands. During this time he developed a passion for lighting design and consequently went on to study for a Masters in Architectural Lighting Design at the University of Wismar in Germany.

In 2008 Benz joined Speirs Major Light Architecture as an Assistant Designer and was promoted to Design Associate in 2017. In 2020 he was made Associate Partner. His ambition is to bring more imagination into the experience of a space – if applied to fantastic architecture and public realm, light can make the experience for people even better.

Benz has worked on a number of projects including the multi-award winning Gasholders London in the King’s Cross development, the City of London Lighting Strategy, and the innovative Lights over Kruunuvuorenranta in Helsinki, Finland. He was also integral to the design for ‘In Lumine Tuo’, an animated light installation in Utrecht, The Netherlands which won the top prize in lighting design, the IALD Radiance Award, in 2014. He is currently working on the Taikoo Place development in Hong Kong, Broadgate Estate in London and the public realm lighting design at Canada Water.

Benz has a keen interest in research and development, helping to design the award-winning street lighting luminaire Aeroblades which was developed with Cree Inc. He also collaborated on the Eira luminaire with Fagerhult, and most recently, on the new lighting fixture ‘CELLS’ with manufacturer Reggiani. He was a key member of the design team for the Third Age of Light research project and led the design for the ground-breaking ‘Our Time on Earth’ climate exhibition at The Barbican Centre.

Chiara Carucci - Founder and Principal - Noctua Cultural & Natural Heritage Lighting Design

With over two decades of experience in the industry, Chiara's journey has been marked by a diverse array of projects and awards, most recently the inaugural Wildlife Night Watch Award by DarkSky International.

Her international work spans a range of conservation efforts, from safeguarding sea turtles in two European LIFE21 pilot projects to preserving bats and natural formations in tourist caves. Her urban lighting designs are recognized for preserving biodiversity, while fostering community impact and the local nighttime economy.

Chiara has collaborated with professionals and researchers, continually cultivating a transdisciplinary approach and pushing the boundaries of informed lighting design. Passionate about driving meaningful change, she looks forward to contributing to future policymaking and collaborative projects, continuing to demonstrate how balancing economic, social, and environmental sustainability is both feasible and effective.

Her dedication to professional development includes volunteering with the 'Lighting Police' and actively engaging in leadership roles within the IALD Association.

In her upcoming public commitments, Chiara aims to share insights to advance environmental stewardship and promote cultural and natural heritage conservation.

Dan Lister MSc BEng (Hons) FSLL, President SLL, Director Arup.

Dan is a lighting consultant who leads Arup's specialist lighting practice in the UK. He has 25 years of lighting consultancy experience across a broad range of sectors and projects across the UK, developing particular expertise in strategic lighting masterplans at a neighbourhood, campus, and city scale.

Dan has a passion for curating lit spaces for people that balance creative and technical challenges These projects consider lighting from beyond an engineered approach, delivering lighting solutions that create welcoming and inclusive environments; better cater for the wellbeing of all users of the space after dark.

Don Slater PhD – LSE Sociology

Don Slater is an Associate Professor (Reader) in Sociology at the London School of Economics, and co-director of the Configuring Light/Staging the Social research group. His research programme focuses on light and lighting as core elements of urban fabric and aims to foster dialogue and collaboration between social research, lighting design and urban planning, particularly in the public realm. Configuring Light has conducted social lighting research, interventions and workshops globally (Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East) and is currently completing a four-year EU project on lighting, ageing and well-being.

In addition to academic research with professional partners, Configuring Light works with cities (eg, Paris, City of London and Southwark), commercial clients (eg, LendLease) and professional bodies (eg, LUCI and ILP). Prior to this programme, Slater worked for many years on information technology, media and digital culture in development contexts, including South Asia, West Africa and Latin America, with projects for UNESCO and DFID (publications included New Media, Development and Globalization, Polity 2013; and The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach, Berg, 2001, with Daniel Miller). Other publications include The Technological Economy (Routledge, 2005, with Andrew Barry); Consumer Culture and Modernity (Polity, 1998); and Market Society (Polity 2002, with Fran Tonkiss).

Elettra Bordanaro PhD Senior Research Fellow LSE – Light Follow Behaviour.

Elettra is a founder and creative director at Light Follows Behaviour, a lighting design studio with the aim of designing with people and for people.

Awarded a PhD in 2006 at the University of Architecture in Turin with a thesis on urban lighting, Elettra has a background as an architect.

She has focused her attention on light and worked as a lighting design consultant on masterplan, exterior and public realm lighting.

She has been lecturing and teaching at many universities, including the University of Rome, Milan and Turin and she has been visiting professor at Rhode Island School of Art and Design, Providence, USA.

She is appointed, with a Senior Policy Fellowship, as a member of the research group Configuring Light at the London School of Economics in the Sociology Department.

Lives and works in London, UK.

Florence Lam Hon FSLL, Arup Fellow, Visiting prof at UCL Bartlett IEDE

Florence is an Arup Fellow and Visiting Professor of Lighting Design and Engineering at The Bartlett UCL Institute of Environmental Design and Engineering. A renowned lighting designer, she co-founded Arup's global lighting design practice and has held several senior executive roles, including serving on their Region Board, Excellence Executive, and as Arup University Director. In these roles, she oversaw their strategic foresight, applied research, ventures, and innovation programmes across the UK, India, Middle East, and South Africa.

With over 15 international and national awards, Florence's accolades include Lighting Designer of the Year in 2013, the CIBSE Society of Light and Lighting President’s Medal in 2020, the SLL Honorary Fellowship, and the CIBSE Gold Medal in 2024.

Her projects of significance span globally, including the London’s Millennium Bridge, British Museum World Conservation Centre, The Acropolis in Athens, California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi, Dongdaemun World Design Park in Seoul, Taipei Taoyuan International Airport T3, Hong Kong’s Stonecutters Bridge, Tai Kwun Centre of Heritage and Arts, and Kai Tak Sports Park lighting masterplan, among others.

Dr Jim Uttley. University of Sheffield

Jim Uttley is a Lecturer in Architectural Science at the University of Sheffield. I am an environmental psychologist with an interest in how the built environment influences behaviour. My research currently focuses on the impact of darkness and lighting on two areas: 1) Perceptions of safety and crime risk; and 2) Active travel. As an example of the first area of work, I have collaborated with South Yorkshire Police to assess the relationship between darkness and crime risk, and how lighting mediates this relationship. As an example of the second area of work, I have led a 3-year project (SATURN – Supporting Active Travel Using Road lighting at Night) to establish evidence about the impact of darkness and lighting on cycling rates. In addition to my research activity I also contribute towards lighting specification guidance through technical work with the CIE, and I am a Trustee of the National Illumination Committee of Great Britain (CIE-UK).

Mark Major RDI RIBA FRIAS FIALD, Speirs Major.

Mark Major trained and practised as an architect before choosing to focus on the relationship between light and architecture.

He formed Speirs Major Light Architecture with Keith Bradshaw in 2010, a practice which grew out of Speirs and Major Associates, which was originally founded 28 years ago. Today the firm is recognised as being one of the world’s leading independent lighting design practices.

Mark has led a wide range of award-winning lighting projects including the Millennium Dome, 30 St. Mary Axe, and the re-lighting of the interiors of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Recent award-winning projects include The Macallan Distillery and Battersea Power Station. He is a specialist in the field of urban lighting and acted as the Lighting Design Advisor to the Olympic Delivery Authority for London 2012. Projects include the Lighting Masterplan for the King’s Cross Redevelopment and the Lighting Strategy for the City of London.

Mark has lectured in the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, the U.S. and Australia. He was the co-creator of an educational project ‘Made of Light – the Art of Light and Architecture’.

Mark was honoured as a Royal Designer for Industry in 2012 and is a corporate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a Fellow of the International Association of Lighting Designers and a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

Mike Simpson FREng Past Pres SLL, CIBSE & ILE. Signify.

Mike has been in the lighting profession for over 46 years in a variety of technical & design roles. He works with the UK professional institutions in developing lighting guides, with BSI in preparing national standards and CEN & IEC on international standardisation. He has presented many papers on lighting technology and its application.

He has worked on many stadia projects including facilities for the Olympics from London in 2012 to Beijing in 2022. Architectural projects include Buckingham Palace and St Pauls Cathedral and was part of the team that delivered the lighting for the London Bridges.

During the pandemic he worked on developing design methodology for UV-C air disinfection, working with ASHRAE to develop global guidelines.

He teaches on the MSc in Light and Architecture at the UCL. In 1994 he was President of the Institution of Lighting Engineers, in 2001 President of the Society of Light and Lighting and in 2009 of CIBSE. In 2016 he was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2017 he was Master of the Worshipful Company of Lightmongers.

Mike works for Signify where he leads in lighting application in the global design centre, supporting their design teams globally.

Dr Michael Wells PHD MA BA(Hons) RDI CEng CSci CBiol C.WEM FRSA FCIEEM MRSB MCIWEM Biodiversity by Design Ltd

Mike Wells is a professional ecologist and ecourbanist, with over 35 years of consultancy experience and 45 years in ecological science. He co-founded Biodiversity by Design Ltd in 2006 with the express aim of focusing on creative multifunctional ecology. Mike's key interests lie in exploring the opportunities for biodiversity enhancement and ecological education in the creative gaps between ecology and other disciplines. Mike has practiced globally in over 20 countries and published widely in relation to the ecological aspects of urban regeneration, masterplanning and design. Mike was one of the co-authors of the first Ecological Impact Assessment Guidelines for the UK and Ireland and is passionate about limiting adverse effects of built development on wildlife.

Over the past few years Mike has been providing the ecological inputs to a new Landscape and Biodiversity Strategy for Monaco – a project for which the issue of artificial lighting impacts is paramount. Mike is a very experienced design panellist having served for many years on both the UK Design Council and Design West. In 2021, for lifetime achievements in ecological design, Mike was elected a Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society for Arts, the first ecologist to secure that recognition.

Professor Peter Raynham Ex UCL Past Pres SLL

Peter has been in the lighting industry since 1976. Starting in lamp development, he then progressed into luminaire development and testing and specialised in photometry before moving into lighting design. In 1996 Peter moved to become a researcher at University College London. He progressed through a series of roles covering teaching, research and consultancy becoming Professor of the Lit Environment before his retirement in 2023.

Peter has had a lot of experience working with lighting standards and guidance. He joined the European Standards (CEN) committee for photometry in 1991 and in 1992 he became chair of the British Standards BSI committee on photometry and he joined the overall BSI lighting committee. In 1996 he became the leader of the UK delegation to the CEN lighting standards management committee and he took over the chair of the BSI lighting committee in 2005. In 2012 he joined the newly formed International (ISO) standards committee on Light and Lighting. He has been the leader of several standards drafting committees and made contribution to more than 30 standards. Peter retired from this standards work in 2024.

Peter is also involved in professional bodies in the lighting industry, he is a former director of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), a past President of the Society of Light (SLL) and Lighting and is currently a Vice-President of the Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP). Peter is a regular contributor to lighting guidance documents for the SLL and the ILP and he was editor of the SLL Code from 2000 to 2012.

Professor Steve Fotios, CEng, FSLL, MILP, PhD, BEng(Hons), FHEA, PGCE, University of Sheffield.

Steve Fotios is Professor of Lighting and Visual Perception at the University of Sheffield where he leads research about lighting for pedestrians and cyclists. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Lighting Research and Technology and associate director of CIE Division 4 where he is leading the revision of CIE 115:2010, the document which acts as the basis for international road lighting standards.