On November 14, 2025, TU Ilmenau held an honorary colloquium to bid farewell to Prof. Christoph Schierz as the long-standing head of the university's Department of Lighting Engineering. After eighteen years of dedicated work in research, teaching, committee work and scientific associations, he retired on September 30, 2025. At the event with 75 guests in the university's Faraday Building, the Presidential Board and the faculty as well as representatives of central specialist committees, associations and societies paid tribute to his outstanding scientific achievements and his formative role for lighting engineering at the university as well as his work at national and international level.
The Presidential Board of the University and the department management opened the event with their words of welcome. They thanked Prof. Schierz for his work and wished him all the best for the new phase of his life. Further words of greeting were delivered by the Association of the Department of Lighting Engineering at TU Ilmenau (VFL), the DIN Standards Committee for Lighting Engineering (FNL), the German National Committee of the International Commission on Illumination (DNK-CIE), the Committee for Workplaces (ASTA), the German Society for Lighting Engineering and Lighting Design (LiTG), the German Academy for Photobiology and Phototechnology (DAfP) and the German Color Science Society (DfwG). The broad institutional participation underlines the high professional recognition that Prof. Schierz enjoys both nationally and internationally.
From lighting measurement technology to automotive lighting
A particular focus of the colloquium was the specialist presentations by former doctoral students, students and scientific companions, which impressively reflected the diversity of research topics shaped by Prof. Christoph Schierz. The contributions ranged from historical retrospectives and basic research questions to current industrial applications.
These contributions made it clear how broad the spectrum of research work initiated and supported by Prof. Christoph Schierz is: from the perception of light, non-visual effects of light, lighting aspects, lighting measurement technology to central issues of automotive lighting.
With prolonged applause and standing ovations, the participants paid tribute to the work of Prof. Christoph Schierz, who has been involved in numerous scientific networks, working groups and standardization committees and has influenced many of today's established researchers.
We wish Prof. Schierz all the best for the new phase of his life and would like to thank him for his 18 years at the Lighting Engineering Group!
