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FROM SOLAR LANTERNS TO FUTURE LASER SYSTEM: SLL YOUNG LIGHTER 2020 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Four finalists have been selected for this year's SLL Young Lighter 2020 competition. The subjects of their presentations will range from solar lanterns in Africa to a laser system for the future.

Aleix Llenas (pictured bottom far left), an R&D engineer at Ledmotive Technologies, will be examining spectrally tunable lighting, featuring a UK case study in tracking human behaviour, and the implications for future technology. Aluwaine Manyonga (second from left) of Emmanuel Consulting Engineers, Zimbabwe, will look at offgrid solar lighting, specifically the Chigubhu lantern, Africa's 'education system game changer'.

A lighting designer at WSP, Giorgia Ross's (far right) presentation will focus on a laser lighting system for the future, while Dipali Shirsat (second from right), a lighting designer for Neolight Global in Dubai, looks at redefining the image of a city with an examination of lighting for disabled spaces.

The finalists will each deliver a presentation. As well as gaining the accolade of SLL Young Lighter 2020, the winner will receive £1000.

The SLL Young Lighter final will form part of the LUXLive 2020 Digital Festival on 11-12 November. The winner will be announced at the Lux Awards on 12 November particles inside the cells, altering how

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE...

Not sure why squids have cropped up again but there we are. Thanks to a species called Doryteuthis opalescens and its ability to turn invisible, scientists at the University of California, Irvine, have managed to recreate the effect in human cells for the first time, creating tuneable transparency.

Using reflective cells called leucophores that change how light scatters off them enables the squid to change colour or appear transparent. The scientists genetically engineered human embryonic kidney proteins were seen to gather into

cells to express reflectin, and the they scattered light.

Sadly the application is likely to be military, camouflage materials, rather than the more exciting prospect of an invisibility cloak. www.nature.com/articles/ s41467-020-16151-6

CAPITAL GAIN

A new research project, Lighting London, will explore how councils, developers and landlords can make the capital’s streets and public spaces 'more inviting and interesting at night, while reducing the city’s carbon footprint'. Run by Centre for London, it will build on the Illuminated River project lighting a series of Thames bridges, the City of London’s lighting strategy, as well as recommendations from City Hall’s Night-Time Commission. 'For the most part, city authorities have historically taken a narrowly utilitarian approach, looking to lighting to make roads and streets brighter, but with little thought for creative or environmental dimensions of light,' says Centre for London. The final report, published this winter, will make recommendations to help City Hall, London’s boroughs, developers and building owners to create a stronger and more coordinated citywide approach to lighting, and better light their buildings and spaces.

The project advisory group that will help to steer research will include Mark Major of Speirs and Major.

GLA ADVISES ON UV The Global Lighting Association has published a guide to ultraviolet disinfection lighting.

Germicidal UV-C Irradiation: Sources, Products and Applications provides an overview of the subject including air disinfection, open controlled access locations, partially open upper-air disinfection luminaires, closed HVAC systems and water disinfection.

Appendices cover the performance of various UV light sources as well as standards and regulations relevant to UV-C devices in selected countries and regions.

The document is the second in a series of GLA publications on germicidal UV-C irradiation. The first, released in May 2020, provides safety guidelines for UV-C devices pending production of international standards.

Both GLA publications may be downloaded from the library section at www.globallightingassociation.org