This month’s Lighting Live Annual Conference will see the Presidential baton pass from James Duffin to Michala Medcalf. Lighting Journal caught up with both to reflect on the year just gone, and the coming 12 months.
‘I FEEL HUMBLED AND PROUD’ – JAMES DUFFIN
For me, when I think back over my year as President, what stands out very clearly is one word: ‘professionalism’, writes James Duffin.
I’ve gone all round the country and have met with so many members, so many people affiliated with the Institution, and the professionalism they have all shown has been the overriding thing I have taken away.
Equally, it has been great to get out to so many CPD events around the regions and our special interest groups and to see and hear what those groups are doing to drive forward, again, professionalism, competency, and continued learning within our industry.
That theme, of course, was something I emphasised in my Presidential address in Glasgow. It has been great to see up close all the hard work being done from my fellow Board members, the different committees (but especially Technical Committee), the team in Rugby, and the passionate body of volunteers who work away so tirelessly.
It has been wonderful, too, to see so many positive changes come to fruition over the past year – the changes to our IT system have made lives easier for both members and staff; the processing of membership renewals has become so much simpler and streamlined; we have seen record numbers of membership upgrades in the past few months.
The return to Regions has of course been another big – and positive – change. It has given members back a local identity that, very clearly, they wanted. Hopefully, all these will continue to be positive legacies from my year as President.
‘ONE OF THE MOST REWARDING YEARS I HAVE EVER HAD’
Thinking about the year as a whole, of course, yes, there have been challenges. But it has been one of the most rewarding years I have ever had. I feel humbled and proud to have done it, it’s been phenomenal. It has been amazing working with such a wonderful group of supportive people over the past year – especially Michala, who has been absolutely steadfast as Senior President Elect.
She has stepped in and helped out when she has seen I’ve needed it; she has offered support even sometimes before I asked! She has been super, super proactive. In one way the year has absolutely flown by – the year’s four Board meetings seemed to come and go in a flash. It feels like five seconds ago that I was chairing my first meeting in Glasgow!
But then when I think about all the events I have been to, whether ILP ones or ones run by complementary industry bodies such as the LUCI Association, the HEA, Lightmongers, and Highways UK, I can sometimes barely believe how much I have done, how many miles I have covered.
During my year as President, I have worked out that I have been out of the office on ILP business on average two to three days week. Being ILP President, I have very much come to realise, is a massive, massive commitment. But it has been so worth it; I have been so honoured to have been your ILP President.
James Duffin BA (Hons) IEng MILP is ILP Immediate Past President as well as senior lighting designer at Enerveo
‘WE HAVE TO PRESENT OUR INDUSTRY AS A VIABLE CAREER PATH’ – MICHALA MEDCALF
In terms of energy and pace, I would very much agree with what James has just said, writes Michala Medcalf (pictured below).
My year as Senior President Elect – so even before stepping up to become ILP President – has been phenomenal. You feel the difference as you move from Junior President Elect to Senior; there is a definite, tangible step-change in responsibility.
The professionalism (to return to James’ theme) we are seeing now in the Institution, the engagement, the hunger for Engineering Council recognition – that has all come off the back of the Strategy 2026 work and key members in the ILP team driving this forward.
We’re seeing change and progress coming through month by month, and that is accelerating all the time. In membership and development, in technical, in pathways into the profession, and in industry engagement and recognition, the progress has been immense and will, I know, continue.
As a charitable, volunteer-led organisation that is really all that we can ask for. If we’re giving value, and if people are taking that value away and learning from that, then we are doing something right. It feels like we are in the right space at the moment.
On volunteers, one message I want to get through during my Presidential year is the immense value of our volunteers, the value of the time our volunteers give, the value of their expertise and their experience.
Volunteers make such a massive contribution to the success of the Institution. It is a big thing, and something I really want to celebrate. My year will also be, to an extent, about wrapping up the Strategy 2026 – so that review and reflection piece. That will happen during the summer but then also of course it will be about looking forward to Strategy 2030.
As Justin Blades articulated earlier in the spring, (‘Looking to strategy 2030’, March 2026, vol 91 no 3) there is a broad outline – a broad set of ideas – out there but these need to be crystallised and prioritised.
Some of this inevitably, will be ‘work in progress’ that has carried over from the Strategy 2026. Other elements will be driven by wider geopolitical, economic and even global pressures and challenges, industry pressures, pinchpoints and priorities.
We have an idea at the moment of the likely themes and workstreams but until we sit down in July and completely review what we have achieved, what we would like to achieve, what we need to achieve it is work in progress.
DARK SKY COMPLIANCE AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE
For me, if we look at the industry as a whole, there are so many drivers out there. Dark sky compliance is a growing issue, and starting to creep into legislation, and that will begin to colour how we deliver lighting, especially exterior lighting, going forward.
Climate change and the environment is likely to be another priority, and much more so than just net zero, circularity or reducing carbon.
We talk about net zero and carbon a lot within lighting – and rightly so – but I also think we need to be looking at, and talking about, the impact of climate as an industry.
We need to be talking about the effects of climate change already, the effects of our changing weather – more rainfall and higher winds for example, more corrosion and structural damage – on our infrastructure, on the resilience of our infrastructure.
The only way we can do that is by being honest with each other. It is also about being prepared to collaborate and share information and knowledge, which, of course, is very much at the heart of the ILP. But too often, within the industry as a whole, that still isn’t happening.
What am I looking forward to most about my Presidential year? In a way, it still hasn’t properly sunk in! And it probably won’t until I’m standing on that stage in Birmingham.
I remember, in Glasgow, when James stood up to begin his Presidential speech, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck go up. It was that sudden realisation of, ‘that’s going to me doing that next year’.
For me, being ILP President, like James has said, will be a massive honour. It is about bringing my experience – my professional and life experience – into the forefront of all the things that we do as an Institution.
I’ll of course bring my own approach. I am looking forward to it immensely but, yes, I do recognise it is going to be challenging. Ultimately, whether being an ILP member, volunteer or President, it is about us all giving something back.
It is about showing, and articulating, ‘this is the future we want for lighting’, whether we’re talking about career paths in lighting, professional development, institutional change, or driving the industry forwards. We have to present our industry as a viable career path – supported of course by the Institution.
If we can do that and, at the same time, demonstrate our professionalism, expertise and competence as lighting professionals to our peers, to the wider engineering and built environment community, to our political masters, and (most of all) to the wider general public I’ll be happy.
Whether we can achieve all that in one year is another question however of course! Finally, on a practical note, I of course look forward to engaging and meeting with members in Birmingham at the Lighting Live Annual Conference and around the regions.
Like James, I will be aiming to get some considerable miles under my belt over the next 12 months. But my door will also always be open to members to get in touch, so please do feel free to drop me a line, and my email address is below.
Michala Medcalf is President of the ILP as well as street lighting manager at Derby City Council. Members can contact Michala Medcalf on michala@theilp.org
This is an abridged version of the article that appears in the June edition of Lighting Journal. To read the full article, simply click on the page-turner to your right.
Main image: James Duffin giving his presidential address at last year’s Lighting Live Annual Conference in Glasgow
