RESEARCHERS IN NEW ZEALAND
It's important to ask two questions when sourcing research.
1 - Who funded the study?
2 - Who gains most from the outcome of the study?
This matters because research needs to be unbiased. Unfortunately, this often isn't the case with lighting because there's so much money invested in selling products.
For instance, the Lighting Research Centre (LRC) is funded / sponsored by the lighting industry itself., so it's no surprise they promote guidance that calls for selling more lighting products. (e.g., Mariana Figueiro's statement, "the light in the built environment during the day is far too low, too dim."
Have a look at the list of lighting companies partnered with this centre. http://bit.ly/2WTbHLd
Below is a list of respected researchers in NZ and abroad, who specialise in the impact of artificial lighting on the following areas; human health, ecology, the environment and the night sky.
HUMAN HEALTH
Dr. Alexander Tups, Associate Professor from the University of Otago, New Zealand, who researches light-mediated melatonin suppression says, “Just one minute of exposure to blue-rich white light from 4000 K LED streetlighting is sufficient to suppress melatonin production for three hours”.
Department of Physiology website
Email alexander.tups@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 4862
Associate Professor David McBride from the department of Social and Preventive Medicine at University of Otago, states, “The introduction of LED lighting may not therefore be health risk free: we need to know a lot more about the possible effects”. (LED Lighting Concerns. Submission to the Dunedin City Council long-term plan. 13 May, 2015.)
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine
Email david.mcbride@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 7208
LIGHTING / LIGHT POLLUTION
Kyra Xavia is a responsible lighting advocate based in New Zealand. She helps educate decision-makers and the public about the importance of well-executed lighting, nocturnal placemaking, and the value of darkness. Recognised in New Zealand and abroad for her advocacy in these matters, Kyra has co-authored research papers and published articles specific to this subject. She is a delegate for Dark Sky International (formerly the IDA)) and a dark skies ambassador for the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Of particular concern, is the unacknowledged harm of certain characteristics of LED lighting technology that adversely impacts many people's lives.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kyra_Xavia
Email kyra.xavia@darksky.org
Tel +64 210 468 256
Susan Mander
Lecturer at Massey University, Auckland and Manager of the Lighting Laboratory.
Lecturer in Lighting
School of Built Environment
College of Sciences
Massey University
Tel +64 9 414 0800 extn. 43328
Email s.mander@massey.ac.nz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5np8_WabrYM&t=2s
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Susan-Mander
Ruggiero Lovreglio
PhD MEng BEng in Civil Engineering
Professor (Associate) at Massey University
New Zealand
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ruggiero-Lovreglio
ECOLOGY
Dr. Stephen Pawson is a forest entomologist with a strong interest in protecting natural biodiversity. He's currently employed by Scion, Christchurch, New Zealand and has studied the detrimental impact of white LED lighting on insects. http://bit.ly/2HZizBM And also researched the impact of white LED street lighting on black-backed gulls. http://bit.ly/2Xwpwzx
Email steve.pawson@scionresearch.com
Tel +64 3 363 0928
Mob +64 274 400 727
Dr. Michelle Greenwood, NIWA freshwater ecologist. Michelle has been investigating the impact of new white LED street lighting luminaires on insects near urban waterways in Christchurch.
Email m.greenwood@niwa.co.nz
Tel +64-3-343-8061
Dr. Bridgette Farnworth. University of Waikato. Behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Bridgette’s research examines how predator-prey dynamics change under increased ambient lighting with a focus on rodent and invertebrate foraging.
Email - bridgette.farnworth@outlook.com
Dr. Barbara Anderson is a quantitative ecologist at Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, and leader of the Ahi-pepe - a "hands on" citizen science project which aims to involve people in moths and to understand them better. The Ahi Pepe MothNet project is a strong collaborative project involving seven partners: Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, The Geography Dept, (University of Otago), Te Tumu (University of Otago), Orokonui Ecosanctuary, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtepoti, the Otago Museum and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. http://bit.ly/2XDYGpm
Tel +64 22 102 0822
.
RESEARCHERS ABROAD
HEALTH IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING ON HUMANS
Asst. Prof. Dr. Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska IALD, IES, MSLL, RIBA Founder of Designs 4 people [d4p] and GUT LightLab, Gdansk, Poland; Zurich, Switzerland. Karolina is a chartered RIBA architect and award-winning practicing lighting designer. She inspires students via her role as Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Gdansk University of Technology (GUT), Poland, and as co-founder of GUT LightLab, conducts research on various aspects of light and lighting in the built environment. Actively engaged in the work of international organisations including the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), Karolina is well known for her critical voice on urban lighting and light pollution, providing guidelines and sharing best practice for nighttime illumination in the built and natural environment.
Please visit researchgate to view her scientific papers. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karolina_Zielinska-Dabkowska
Email - k.zielinska-dabkowska@pg.edu.pl
www.linkedin.com/in/dr-karolina-m-zielinska-dabkowska-0a80831/
Dr. Maya Babu. Director of Adult Neurotrauma at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. Affiliated with the American Medical Association which produced guidelines in 2016, to reduce the detrimental effects of poorly-designed, high-intensity LED lighting, and encourage communities to minimise and control blue-rich environmental lighting.
https://www.massgeneral.org/doctors/doctor.aspx?id=20498
Email - Maya.Babu@va.gov
Prof. Sean W. Cain, a circadian biologist at Monash University, Melbourne, who specialises in depression and light. He's also the president of the Australasian Chronobiology Society.
Email - Sean.Cain@monash.edu
https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/sean-cain
Dr Alejandro Sánchez de Miguel. Scientific researcher University of Exeter. He has a degree in Physical DC, a Master in Astrophysics and a Doctorate in Astrophysics from the Complutense University of Madrid. Member of several astronomical associations, scientific and nature protection societies (ASAAF-UCM, AAM, Astrohenares, IMO, SEA, REECL, LoNNe, Stars4all, SOMYCE, SPNM, AstroInnova). He has participated as an activist in light pollution issues since the 90s and since 2007 he has undertaken research in this area.
Email - alejasan@ucm.es
linkedin.com/in/alejandro-sanchez-de-miguel-30431363
http://pmisson.blogspot.com
Dr. Manolis Kogevinas graduated at the Medical School of Athens, Greece and did his PhD in Epidemiology at the University of London (1989). He worked at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), Lyon and at the Municipal Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) Barcelona. He was Professor of Epidemiology at the Medical School, University of Crete, Greece, and at the National School of Public Health in Athens, Greece.
manolis.kogevinas@isglobal.org
LIGHT POLLUTION
Martin Aubé, physics professor at CÉGEP in Sherbrooke, Canada. He is a world leading researcher in the field of remote sensing and modeling of light pollution. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in remote sensing from Université de Sherbrooke and a M.Sc. degree in astrophysics from Université Laval.
Email - martin.aube@cegepsherbrooke.qc.ca
www.linkedin.com/in/martin-aub%C3%A9-312a8826/
IMPACT ON FLORA & FAUNA
Dr. Therésa Jones. Senior Lecturer in Behaviour and Evolutionary Ecology and Leader of the Urban Light Lab in the School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne. She is interested in understanding the ecological impact of artificial light at night on the fitness of individual animals and their communities. She addresses this using a variety of species including crickets, spiders, swans, willie wagtails and the eastern grey kangaroo. Research from the Urban Light lab has linked artificial light at night with reductions in immune function, reproductive success and survival.
Email - theresa@unimelb.edu.au
Phone +61 (0) 3 9035 9576
https://biosciences.unimelb.edu.au/people/academic-staff
Dr. Kellie Pendoley. International Dark Sky Association/Pendoley Environment. She has over three decades of experience in the environmental management of large-scale oil and gas developments, both in Australia and overseas. With her extensive knowledge of marine turtle biology and ecology, Kellie has designed and implemented an array of programs that manage industrial activities in the vicinity of marine
turtle habitats. Her work with marine turtles led to a special interest in monitoring and modelling light pollution, spending over 25 years in R&D of novel technology and techniques to quantify biologically meaningful light and educating industry and regulators on the issue.
Email - kellie.pendoley@penv.com.au
Phone +61 (0) 8 9330 6200
www.linkedin.com/in/kelliependoley
Dr. Chris Kyba. German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ), and a guest researcher at the Leibniz-
Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries. He studies the ecological impact of artificial light at night, with a focus on quantifying the skyglow produced by cities, and how it is changing.
Phone +49 331 288-28973
Email - christopher.kyba@gfz-potsdam.de
www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/staff/christopher-kyba/
www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-kyba-33bb8588/
Alicia Dimovski. A PhD candidate with the Research Centre for Future Landscapes and Reproductive Ecology group at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Her PhD research focuses on the ecological impacts of changing light technologies in Australia. She also aims to experimentally assess our ability to mitigate these impacts by changing the spectral composition of energy-efficient lighting to produce “wildlife-friendly” lighting.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicia-dimovski-98486a89/
Dr. Andre Chiaradia. Marine Ecology and Conservation. Works on marine prey-predator relationships and interactions with their environment, including the effect on artificial lights on little penguins and short-tailed shearwaters. His research have produced over 80 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, mentoring over 30 postgrad students. Andre is on the editorial board of scientific journals, current a steering committee member of the IUCN Penguin Specialist Group and affiliated to the Monash University. His ultimate goals are to future proof the food supply of penguins and maintain the integrity of the natural skylight at Phillip Island.
Email - achiaradia@penguins.org.au
Phone + 61 (3) 59512849.
Dr. Karen Arthur is a marine turtle ecologist with the Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Energy where she works on turtle and dugong policy in the Migratory Species Team. She has contributed to the development of the Recovery Plan for Marine Turtles in Australia (2017) and is currently leading the development of Light Pollution Guidelines for Marine Turtles, Seabirds and Migratory Shorebirds.
www.linkedin.com/in/karen-arthur-28595b33/
IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING ON ASTRONOMY
Christian Luginbuhl.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christian_Luginbuhl
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.4796263
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022407313004792
Dr. Barry Clark. Director, Outdoor Lighting Improvement Section, Astronomical Society of Victoria Inc, Australia. Committee Member, Dark Sky , International, Victorian Chapter.