Understanding how light affects human health and well-being has long been an important focus of research within CIE. Through its work CIE continues to advance scientific knowledge of the physiological and psychological effects of light, providing a foundation for future studies and evidence-based applications.
As part of this commitment, CIE is a founding member of the Light for Public Health initiative, which brings together international organisations dedicated to making evidence-based knowledge on light and health accessible to all. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has now been signed among the participating organisations, marking an important step in formalising their collaboration.
Light affects how we sleep, feel, and perform – yet public awareness of its impact remains limited. The Light for Public Health initiative aims to make evidence-based knowledge on light and health both accessible and actionable, thus turning scientific insight into public benefit.
Officially launched on May 16, 2025, the UNESCO International Day of Light, the initiative has published 26 foundational statements outlining up-to-date expert consensus on how light exposure influences human physiology and behavior. These statements have now been published as an open-access article in the journal BMJ Public Health and have been translated into 18 languages.
The Light for Public Health initiative has emerged from the Ladenburg Roundtable “Light for health and well-being”, a forum for interdisciplinary research dialogue held in April 2024. It is supported by the Light for Public Health Consortium, a network of international experts serving as its scientific advisory body. Participating organizations are the International Commission on Illumination (Vienna, Austria), the Society for Light, Rhythms and Circadian Health (Philadelphia, PA, USA), the Daylight Academy (Zurich, Switzerland), the Good Light Group (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), and the Center for Environmental Therapeutics (New York, USA).
“Light isn’t just for vision – it is a key signal for human biology,” says Manuel Spitschan, a CIE expert and research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, as well as professor at the Technical University of Munich, who chairs Light for Public Health initiative. “By bringing light and health experts together, we can make healthier light an integral part of global health policy and everyday life.”
With the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, these organisations have formalised their collaboration, marking a new phase for Light for Public Health!
Learn more at https://lightforpublichealth.org/
Contact information:
Light for Public Health Initiative
contact@lightforpublichealth.org