LUCI Annual General Meeting
Montpellier

Keynote

Ruskin Hartley, CEO of DarkSky International

Ruskin Hartley, CEO of DarkSky International, is a prominent environmentalist driving a global initiative to safeguard natural night skies from light pollution, highlighting its adverse effects on health, wildlife, and climate. He has engaged with global leaders and communities, promoting sustainable lighting practices. Hartley’s environmental work started in 1992, focusing on land, water, and ocean-conservation. Previously, he was Vice President at Fair Trade USA, and held leadership roles at Heal the Bay and Save the Redwoods League. A Cambridge graduate, his studies spanned from Oman’s irrigation to rural development in Bihar, India. His efforts have earned him recognition from environmental organizations. Hartley’s childhood connection with nature in the UK inspired his lifelong conservation commitment.

Ruskin Hartley, CEO of DarkSky International

LUCI Talks

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Virginie Gabel, Founder and CEO of Clock&me; Board Member of Good Light Group

Virginie Gabel is a chronobiologist and sleep scientist. She obtained her PhD at the University of Basel, Switzerland and did her post-doctoral research at the University of Stanford, USA. During that time, she studied how light and aging impact human behavior, cognitive performances, and sleep. Back in France, she is now studying human adaptation to various environments (desert, jungle, cave, Lapland etc.) and its effects on sleep and circadian rhythms.
Beside her research, she founded Clock&me, a consulting firm where she helps companies preventing risks linked to lack of sleep through trainings, conferences, seminars and consultancy. She is also a board member of the Good Light Group, an international non-profit organisation which advocates proper light exposure throughout the day. The main objective of the group is to promote the good use of artificial light and raise public awareness about the health benefits of natural light.

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Christopher Kyba, Post-doctoral researcher at GFZ-Potsdam

Christopher Kyba is a physicist who has been studying light in the outdoor environment since 2009. He works with data from many different sources, ranging from satellite observations and aerial photos to all sky imagery and observations with the human eye. He has led the development of a number of citizen science projects and tools, including Radiance Light Trends, the Loss of the Night app, My Sky at Night, and most recently the Nachtlichter (Night Lights) app. He served on the board of directors of the International Dark-Sky Association during 2012-2015, and co-founded the “Artificial Light at Night” conference series. In 2022, he was the recipient of the Leon Gaster Award from the Society of Light and Lighting for an innovative experiment involving satellite observations and dimmable LED street lights in Tucson, Arizona. Christopher lives in Bochum, Germany, with his wife, two children, and one very old cat.

Moderator

Aurélie Cosyn, Internal consultant at Montpellier Mediterranean Metropolis

Initially a public law lawyer, Aurélie is an Internal consultant in Montpellier Mediterranean Metropolis. She has been working since 2018 on developing collective intelligence methods through organizational consulting and support for managers. As a facilitator during trainings on climate transition, she helps transform, illuminate ideas and carry out projects.

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Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole

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Damien Guiraudie, Head of Lighting Strategy, Public Lighting Department of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole

Damien Guiraudie is in charge of the of lighting strategy in the public lighting department of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole. In particular, he is in charge of steering and implementing the lighting master plan and is also responsible for the City of Montpellier’s Christmas lights. His entire career in various local authorities has been devoted to managing the ecological transition.

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Philippe Clavel, Territorial Development of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole

Philippe began his career with the City of Montpellier in 1984, moving from the management to the design of public lighting. He has contributed to the development of technical specifications that he now incorporates inti the definition of development programmes for public spaces, a new role that he carries out within Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole. His career illustrates his constant commitment to public service.

Montpellier projects and collaborations

Roland Brémond, Director of Research at University Gustave Eiffel

Roland Brémond is Director of Research at Gustave Eiffel University, with an engineering degree from the École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, a doctorate from the École Nationale des Mines de Paris and a degree in psychology. After a postdoctoral year at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Barcelona), he worked as a researcher then research director successively at the Central Laboratory of Bridges and Roads, at IFSTTAR then at the Gustave Eiffel University on issues of applied vision, from image processing to experimental psychology. The applications of his work include public lighting, automobile lighting, road visibility, visual attention and glare. He has authored more than 40 articles in international scientific journals.

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Sarah Potin, Project Manager at La TeleScop

Sarah Potin is a Project Manager at La TeleScop, a cooperative start-up in the field of remote sensing, mapping and public policy. She is in charge of analysing night-time satellite and aerial images to produce some indicators of light pollution to help local authorities preserve biodiversity. She is working on a method to model the “nocturnal ecological network” with Julie Chaurand, an environmental policy specialist who also works at La TeleScop.

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Richard Scherrer, Territorial delegate and Project manager from the Cévennes National Park IDSR

For 15 years at the national park on a mission to support rural communities to the ecological transition, in addition a more technical mission to monitor work authorization in protected areas. Before that, he worked in the cultural sector in a town of 20,000 inhabitants in Alsace.

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Léa Tardieu, PhD researcher at INRAE

Léa Tardieu is a PhD researcher in environmental economics working at INRAE (UMR Tetis and UMR Cired). Her research focuses in designing spatial indicators for ecosystem services and biodiversity, by considering both their environmental and social dimensions, to better inform planning policies and projects. Her primary research theme is urban nature and the reduction of light pollution for biodiversity and citizens. She supervises the PhD thesis of Chloé Beaudet with Maia David, working on the socio-economic aspects of light pollution mitigation measures.

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Céline Villa, Researcher at University Gustave Eiffel

Dr Céline Villa is a researcher at the University Gustave Eiffel in France. Her research focus on lighting quality for human users, in connecting psychophysical assessments and photometry measurements. She works especially on discomfort glare and visibility of innovative signalling in urban and road areas.Since 2023, she co-leads the multidisciplinary project called LUNNE funded by the French Research Agency which deals with different issues linked to the reduction of urban lighting to limit its negative impact on nature. She is involved in previous and current TCs about discomfort glare in CIE.

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Workshops

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Lionel Bessières, Lighting Designer and Principal of Quartiers Lumières

Since graduated as lighting Engineer 27 years ago, Lionel has always been working in lighting design. He started working as an assistant with a famous architectural lighting designer, Pierre Bideau, with who he was involved in prestigious illuminations and events such as the Eiffel Tower and many other projects. He runs his own studio “Quartiers Lumières” in Toulouse since 2006. The company approach is a multidisciplinary vision blending technical skills, smart and wise creativity around a  teamwork effort. The company is involved in numerous urban lighting projects, lighting master plans, energy and regulation studies of public lighting, development of public spaces and architectural lighting design. He’s also represents the French lighting designer association ACE as secretary.

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Nicolas Houel, PhD Urban planner and Founder of L’Observatoire de la nuit

Nicolas Houel holds a PhD in urban planning. Since 2021, he has headed the Observatoire de la nuit consulting agency, and is an associate researcher at the AAU laboratory in Nantes, France. His work focuses on the evolution of cultural representations of night and artificial lighting, around which he is developing expertise in mediation and shared design of lighting ambiences, as well as a series of innovative digital tools, synthesized under the purpose to contribute to the emergence of new nocturnal narratives.

Photo credits
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