8|artículo Professional Lighting Design Conference in Copenhagen A personal perspective around the content of the most influent international lighting design meeting. Inspiration. Knowledge transfer. Networking. Hard working days, good for a renewal of the inner pas- sion: light.These are words that come to my mind when I look back at my memories from the past Professional Lighting Design Confe- rence that took place in Madrid in November, 2011. Now, I am looking forward, trying to share my expec- tations of what the next conference would bring for the development of the lighting design profession, for my own personal and professional interests. Copenhagen, looks like a wonderful place, with a good repre- sentation of what XXIst century’s architecture has to offer, some of this RIBA-Europe awards, exempli- fying urban development, the re- mains of the masters of the past... Maybe next time. The Conference has an intensive programme with six presentations a day, and there is no opportunity such as this to find that amount of international talent and enthusiasm in a single place, at the same moment. No tourism, then, let’s get to the work. Pre-convention meetings. SAD in Copenhagen SAD stands for Seasonal Affecti- ve Disorder, for what the winter blues is a good example. This kind of sickness is related to the lack of sunlight in the winter months, and it is normally associated with a delay in the circadian rhythm, our internal biological clock that regu- lates, among other physiological functions, the balance of our daily sleeping hours. Light therapy has proven to be an effective treatment to this kind of disorders. Profes- sor Rob Lucas, from Manchester University, will share the results of a workshop entitled “Nonvisual effects of light on human beings” during one of the pre-convention meetings planned for wednesday the 30th. This research is part of an effort to define a new standard for lighting quality that would include such aspects of light that are not related to human perception, led by the European Committee for Stan- darization. Another meeting, the same day, that will join lighting educators, can shape the future of things to come regarding lighting design as a professional profile. There is a will of sindication, of joining forces to create a Lighting Educators’ Asso- ciation, and Louise Ritter is hosting a meeting to talk about this sub- ject. The conversation started some months ago, and maybe some spe- cific results will come to light after the working session. The conference The major topics discussed in the sessions will divide in four cate- gories or parallell “tracks”, and three of them are pre-defined: Research, Case Studies and Profes- sional Practice Issues. The fourth is established as a result of testing the interests and trends of both industry and professionals. This year will be entitled “Sustainable Lighting+Design”. For now Solid State Lighting technology (LED) is still kind of an individual subject, as it generates passionate debates and raises questions and expectations among the whole industry and the professionals implied, and it will mainly appear along this track. But hopefully this won’t monopolize the