In 2021, a large group of scientists, clinicians, local governments and societal partners joined forces in the BioClock Consortium to study the biological clock in modern society. The project was funded by a 10 million euros grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) in the framework of the National Research Agenda (NWA).
The consortium aims to tackle three major goals:
Firstly, it aims to promote the health of the biological clock across society by developing and implementing lifestyle changes and lighting strategies for work, school and home.
Secondly, BioClock aims to improve patient care through the application of chronobiology to clinical practice. It will do so by, amongst others, promoting cyclic conditions for patients in hospitals and develop medications to strengthen the biological clock.
At last, BioClock aims to develop sustainable, non-invasive strategies to minimize the negative effects of light pollution on biological clock in nature. A great diversity of organisms will be studied (including plants, insects and fish) and researchers will focus on the lighting conditions that will aid biodiversity.
The Good Light Group participates in workpackage 1.1, led by the University of Groningen. This project aims to study the mechanisms of light on our behavior and performance. The ultimate goal is to find light conditions that are optimal for our wellbeing 24 hours a day. The Good Light Group will assist in the research design, and indicate what information is missing to communicate a good and clear message to society, more importantly, that the knowledge is going to be actually used.
In the next 6 years, these research goals will be addressed by 25 PhD and Post-doc candidates across 13 universities, research institutes and universities of applied sciences. More information can be found on BioClock Consortium
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