In celebration of the UNESCO International Day of Light 2026, the CIE hosted a special webinar on 15 May entitled “Lighting the Way: Finding Balance Between Safety, Beauty, and the Night Sky”, focusing on the topic of light pollution. The recording of this engaging session is now available to watch on our Vimeo channel here.
The session brought together a range of perspectives on current practice and emerging priorities in light pollution, highlighting developments in policy, regulation, scientific research, and municipal and regional initiatives. It provided an opportunity to hear different viewpoints, learn about ongoing activities in practice, and reflect on how these developments relate to existing CIE work and relevant CIE publications. It also facilitated exchange between experts to support CIE’s guidance, recommendations, and potential future publications, while identifying topics and gaps that may benefit from further attention in current and future CIE activities. By linking real-world practice with CIE outputs, the session aimed to inform and guide ongoing and future CIE work in this area.
CIE President Dr. Jennifer Veitch opened the webinar with an introduction to CIE work on the topic. The webinar featured CIE experts Prof. Matej Kobav (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; CIE NC Slovenia), who presented Slovenia’s light pollution regulation and its effects in practice; Prof. Carolin Liedtke (Hamburg University of Applied Sciences – HAW Hamburg, Germany; CIE NC Germany), who presented the DARKER SKY project within the EU Interreg North Sea Region Programme; as well as updates from the Horizon Europe project PLAN-B, which investigates light pollution and its effects on terrestrial biodiversity, jointly presented by project experts Prof. Karolina Zielińska-Dąbkowska (Gdansk University of Technology, Poland) and Prof. Mike Wood (University of Salford, UK). The perspectives presented were also reflected on by Prof. Steve Fotios (Associate Director of CIE Division 4), who opened the discussion for audience interaction.
Whether you missed the live session or want to revisit the insights shared, the full recording is now accessible at your convenience.
In addition to the recording, the slides from the webinar are also available for download:
- Access Dr. Jennifer Veitch's slides here.
- Access Prof. Mike Wood's and Prof. Karolina Zielińska-Dąbkowska slides here.
- Access Prof. Carolin Liedtke's slides here.
- Access Prof. Matej Kobav's slides here.
- Access Prof. Steve Fotios' slides here.
This webinar was part of the CIE project “Understanding Science – Understanding Light”, featuring one of its key topics, Light Pollution.
This event is supported by the Vienna Business Agency. A fund of the City of Vienna.