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The LIGHT2015 Projects bring the wonders of Photonics to 27 European Countries during IYL 2015

By . Published on 22 March 2016 in:
IYL 2015, March 2016, , , ,

The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 [IYL 2015] has been a tremendous success in bringing together academic and industry organisations around the world to join forces to raise awareness of the many ways in which the physics and applications of light impacts our lives in areas such as energy, education, climate-change and health. The success of IYL 2015 crowns six years of hard work by the European Physical Society [EPS] since the first discussions of the idea in 2009.  

One of the major activities of EPS during 2015 has been the coordination of the LIGHT2015 project, whose main goal is to promote the importance of photonics to young people, entrepreneurs, members of the Industry and the general public around Europe during IYL 2015.

Running from January 2015 until June 2016, the LIGHT2015 Consortium has organized around 110 activities in 27 European countries including:

  • 48 LIGHT talks, a series of inspirational events, which are taking place throughout Europe for the whole duration of the project in order to bring photonics closer to students, entrepreneurs and members of industry. These activities have been possible thanks to the vast networks of EPS and EOS, involving directly several EPS Member Societies as well as Young Minds Sections.
  • The iSPEX-EU campaign was the 1st pan-European citizen science campaign where thousands of European citizens carried out optical measurements of the sky using smartphones to yield information related to air pollution in 11 European cities.
  • To aid teachers and to inspire students, over 250 Photonics Explorer kits were distributed to schools in 11 European countries together with teacher training to around 500 teachers to support scientific education in secondary schools.
  • The organization and support of several Flagship events involving high-level participants, such as the IYL 2015 Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the Opening Ceremony of the World of Photonics Congress to bridge the gap between scientists and policy-makers.
  • Two videos that depict the endless power of photonics have been produced and are freely available to use in 24 official EU languages. You can find them here.
  • The publication of the educational resource for teachers 100 Activities about Light and Photonics has been a great success. The e-book is a quick reference guide to freely available resource for teachers  and educators. The e-book is available as an Open Educational Resource and the source file is available for translations and adaptations.
  • The organization of the LIGHT2015 Awards to highlight early-career women researchers and entrepreneurs in photonics was a great success receiving many outstanding applications. As a legacy of the project, EOS will continue the organisation of these awards. The 2016 edition is already open and is accepting applications until 15 July 2016. Find more information here.

For more information on on-going LIGHT2015 activities please visit:

 



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