Recommended prerequisite for participation in the module

Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

The objective of this module is to provide students with evidence concerning the relationship between causes and effects of lighting, particularly in relation to the way we perceive our luminous environment and the possible physiological effects of light.

The facts that will be presented are obtained through reading scientific testing protocols and reviewed papers. The robustness of the scientific literature will be discussed. The results will be used to improve lighting designs and to identify possible risks attached to lighting schemes.

References will be provided and the students will be required to verify the validity of the information, which will relate to any context of lighting design.

Learning objectives

Knowledge

Students who complete this module will obtain the following qualifications:

• Understanding the characteristics of the human visual system, including the progression of vision as we age and the vision of visually impaired
• Knowledge on how to analyse perceived lighting quality
• Understanding on lights effect on circadian rhythms
• Understand health risks affiliated with lighting
• Understanding how light affects plants and animals

Skills

Students who complete this module will obtain the following qualifications:

• Understand how to set up a scientific test and to report the results, being critical to (and to address the biases that may affect) the outcome of the test.
• Ability to read and understand scientific material related to evidence based lighting issues.
• Ability to discuss and evaluate results reported in scientific papers, using the right terminology
• Ability to assess the performance of a given lighting scheme, based on scientific evidence
• Ability to analyse a lighting scheme using the appropriate metric, going beyond state of the art
• Ability to understand existing standards (IEC, CIE, WMO, etc.)

Competences

Students who complete this module will obtain the following qualifications:

• Ability to use up-to-date knowledge from the scientific literature to analyse and evaluate a given lighting solution
• Ability to test and report on a scientific problem in relation to lighting
• Ability to develop and propose lighting schemes which comply with various constraints issued from scientific research and evidence based requirements for specific applications

Type of instruction

Refer to the type of instructions listed in § 17.

Exam

Exams