Daylight matters: 2025 Daylight Academy Annual Conference at TUM-IAS in Garching

From 22 to 23 May 2025, members of our team, Zahrah Alkaff, Anna Biller, Johannes Zauner, and Resshaya Murukesu had the opportunity to attend the 2025 Daylight Academy (DLA) Annual Conference held at TUM-IAS in Garching, Germany. Under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Manuel Spitschan, current Speaker of the DLA Steering Committee, the event brought together a passionate community dedicated to the science and application of daylight.

The theme this year, “Daylight Matters – Turning Knowledge into Change,” explored how scientific insights about daylight can be translated into meaningful, real-world action. This theme is especially relevant to the work we do in the Translational Sensory and Circadian Neuroscience (MPS/TUM/TUMCREATE) Unit, where we strive to bridge fundamental circadian science with interventions to promote human health and wellbeing.

A highlight of the conference was Zahrah Alkaff’s engaging poster flash talk titled “Modifying exposure to daylight through behaviour in older adults.” Her presentation sparked thoughtful discussion on behavioural pathways to improve light hygiene among ageing populations. In another featured session, Anna Biller shared her experience co-organising the highly successful Interdisciplinary Summer School during the Spotlight on DLA Projects segment, emphasising the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration in daylight research. We also took part in several interactive parallel sessions. One particularly memorable session was “Citizen science to raise awareness of daylight’s impact on health and wellbeing,” where we explored strategies for effectively communicating the significance of daylight to different audiences.

The conference was truly multidisciplinary, uniting scientists, architects, engineers, and professionals from various fields who share a deep interest in daylight. We left the event inspired and energised, with new insights and ideas to bring back to our collective work.