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About

The Lighting Education Trust is an independent registered charity, set up and supported by the Lighting profession, dedicated to advancing education in Lighting by funding and running appropriate courses. Find out about the company history and meet the team.
1987
MSc Light & Lighting founded at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
This was the brainchild of David Loe who devised the syllabus and ran the course until 1995. Financial support was given by Philips Lighting, with Alan Spalding the liaison with Managing Director Mike Goodwin.
1995
Crisis at the Bartlett leads to founding of LET.
Philips funding underwrote the MSc for seven years before being discontinued in 1995. Despite the international success of the MSc, UCL was not prepared to maintain it without support from the industry so David Loe and his Course Leader Kevin Mansfield were appealing to major companies to replace the Philips contribution. A chance meeting of Kevin Mansfield and Hugh Ogus of Poselco Lighting established that all the companies wished the course to continue but none was prepared to enter into an open-ended commitment. Most of the companies canvassed were members of the Lighting Industry Federation (LIF), of which body Hugh Ogus was a Council member and Past President.
With the help of a fellow Past President, David Rowden of Holophane Lighting, LIF Council was persuaded that a co-operative approach, whereby each company would pledge a contribution for at least five years, could “save the Bartlett”!
LIF Council suggested that a charitable trust be set up to manage the funding, but this would be best served under the auspices of a professional institution, with CIBSE the obvious choice. As Hugh Ogus was then Vice President of CIBSE and Past Chairman of its Lighting Division (now SLL), he approached Secretary Andrew Ramsay and President David Lush who quickly gained approval from the CIBSE Board to go ahead.
Andrew Ramsay was able to establish a charity, registered with the Charity Commission, to be known as the Lighting Education Trust, the Trustees being the Board of CIBSE, the Board of ILE (now ILP) and Hugh Ogus. They formed a management committee of Hugh Ogus, David Rowden and Mike Simpson of Philips, who was also President of ILE, the money came in from the LIF members (including Philips) plus some consultants and designers and the MSc continued as though nothing had happened!
1996
LET Lecturer appointed at Bartlett.
Peter Raynham from Philips joined the Bartlett team and was known as the LET Lecturer.
2000
LET Diploma developed with London South Bank University and launched in the House of Lords.
Once the LET support for the Bartlett MSc was consolidated, the sponsoring companies directed attention to the lack of structured sub-degree courses to meet majority needs. Thus was born the LET Diploma in Lighting from a truly pan-industry effort between CIBSE, ILE, RIBA, LIF, IALD, the Bartlett, South Bank University and co-opted specialists, notably Vic Neal and Gerry Brown. Driven by Vic Neal, a comprehensive syllabus was agreed and developed by London South Bank University (LSBU) into an extensive distance learning programme. Under the management of Pasha Fuad and Les Norman, LSBU undertook to run the course on behalf of LET.
The LET Diploma in Lighting was launched, courtesy of LIF, with some fanfare at a reception in the House of Lords.
2011
LET takes Diploma “in house”.
LSBU announced it was discontinuing all external courses, which included the LET Diploma in Lighting. The LET management committee, with the support of CIBSE, decided to take the course in house. Agreement was reached with LSBU to continue to provide facilities for workshops, to be the examination moderator and to use the university name alongside the LET name on the Diploma certificates. CIBSE managed the bookkeeping and Hugh Ogus dealt with student enquiries, enrolments and invoicing for a couple of years until the appointment of Pom Daniells from CIBSE as administrator. The course itself was kept updated by a committee under Kelvin Austin and the tutorship of Barrie Wilde. Strong support was enjoyed from the SLL secretariat, first under Jonathan David then Liz Peck. Liz Peck became tutor after Barrie Wilde retired.
2012
Chairman of the Trustees, Hugh Ogus, appointed MBE.
This honour reflected his work in several fields of education.
LET
Scroll to find out about the LET through the years.
2014
Hugh Ogus awarded Gold Medal of CIBSE (only the 30th awarded since 1912).
In the same year, he was appointed a Fellow of the City & Guilds of London Institute.
2015
The Diploma was renamed the LET Diploma in Lighting Design.
Bob Venning continued to chair the Management committee, supported by senior figures within the lighting profession including Jeff Shaw and Ian Stanton. Though subject to continuous review and updating, it was seen that the original Diploma course required a new focus for which a rewrite was undertaken which added additional modules along with a strict time programme. This process, involving many volunteers from across the lighting industry, took 2 years to complete.
2018
Peter Raynham appointed Professor of the Lit Environment.
Restructuring of charity to become CIO.
Peter Raynham appointed Professor of the Lit Environment  at University College London, Bartlett School Environment, Energy & Resources (see 1996, the original LET Lecturer).

The sudden withdrawal of ILP as a Trustee prompted the Trustees to review the structure that dated back to 1995. They resolved to change the constitution of the Charitable Trust to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), a structure that provides additional benefits and safeguards. Under the original Constitution, CIBSE was a Corporate Trustee whereas currently the Charity Commission advises against a mix of individuals and corporate bodies on a Trustee board. With the approval of the CIBSE Board, the Institution ceased to be a Corporate Trustee but is empowered to nominate and appoint a representative ‘natural person’ Trustee. As this appointment is written into the Constitution, it is effectively a technicality that, in practice, changes nothing about CIBSE’s influence as a Trustee. The assistance of Dr Hywel Davies was invaluable during these negotiations.
The first Trustees of the new CIO were Hugh Ogus, Mike Simpson, Bob Venning and John Aston (representing CIBSE).
By this time, annual funding from industry sponsors had diminished but, fortunately, the MSc course at UCL Bartlett had outgrown the need for external funding, thus enabling resources to be reserved for specific grants or projects.
All connection with LSBU for the LET Diploma in Lighting Design was discontinued, it now being run “in association with” UCL Bartlett who, in addition to general support, became the moderator for examinations and permitted the use of its name on the Diploma certificates.
2020
Pandemic
Covid halted recruitment but support was maintained for existing students able to continue. Reserve funds were sufficient to ensure that a long pause in activities was not an existential threat.
2021
Mike Simpson awarded Gold Medal of CIBSE.
Only the 13th “Lighter” to have received this award since 1912.
2022
Appointment of additional Trustees.
Jeff Shaw and Iain Macrae were appointed Trustees.

It is no coincidence that all the Trustees have held office in SLL and CIBSE, with Mike Simpson having served as CIBSE President.
2023 (Latest)
New course tutor for Diploma.
Kristina Allison joined the management committee and took the role of course tutor.
1987
MSc Light & Lighting founded at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
This was the brainchild of David Loe who devised the syllabus and ran the course until 1995. Financial support was given by Philips Lighting, with Alan Spalding the liaison with Managing Director Mike Goodwin.
1996
LET Lecturer appointed at Bartlett.
Peter Raynham from Philips joined the Bartlett team and was known as the LET Lecturer.
2011
LET takes Diploma “in house”.
LSBU announced it was discontinuing all external courses, which included the LET Diploma in Lighting. The LET management committee, with the support of CIBSE, decided to take the course in house. Agreement was reached with LSBU to continue to provide facilities for workshops, to be the examination moderator and to use the university name alongside the LET name on the Diploma certificates. CIBSE managed the bookkeeping and Hugh Ogus dealt with student enquiries, enrolments and invoicing for a couple of years until the appointment of Pom Daniells from CIBSE as administrator. The course itself was kept updated by a committee under Kelvin Austin and the tutorship of Barrie Wilde. Strong support was enjoyed from the SLL secretariat, first under Jonathan David then Liz Peck. Liz Peck became tutor after Barrie Wilde retired.
2014
Hugh Ogus awarded Gold Medal of CIBSE (only the 30th awarded since 1912).
In the same year, he was appointed a Fellow of the City & Guilds of London Institute.
2018
Peter Raynham appointed Professor of the Lit Environment.
Restructuring of charity to become CIO.
Peter Raynham appointed Professor of the Lit Environment  at University College London, Bartlett School Environment, Energy & Resources (see 1996, the original LET Lecturer).

The sudden withdrawal of ILP as a Trustee prompted the Trustees to review the structure that dated back to 1995. They resolved to change the constitution of the Charitable Trust to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), a structure that provides additional benefits and safeguards. Under the original Constitution, CIBSE was a Corporate Trustee whereas currently the Charity Commission advises against a mix of individuals and corporate bodies on a Trustee board. With the approval of the CIBSE Board, the Institution ceased to be a Corporate Trustee but is empowered to nominate and appoint a representative ‘natural person’ Trustee. As this appointment is written into the Constitution, it is effectively a technicality that, in practice, changes nothing about CIBSE’s influence as a Trustee. The assistance of Dr Hywel Davies was invaluable during these negotiations.
The first Trustees of the new CIO were Hugh Ogus, Mike Simpson, Bob Venning and John Aston (representing CIBSE).
By this time, annual funding from industry sponsors had diminished but, fortunately, the MSc course at UCL Bartlett had outgrown the need for external funding, thus enabling resources to be reserved for specific grants or projects.
All connection with LSBU for the LET Diploma in Lighting Design was discontinued, it now being run “in association with” UCL Bartlett who, in addition to general support, became the moderator for examinations and permitted the use of its name on the Diploma certificates.
2021
Mike Simpson awarded Gold Medal of CIBSE.
Only the 13th “Lighter” to have received this award since 1912.
LET
Scroll to find out about the LET through the years.
1995
Crisis at the Bartlett leads to founding of LET.
Philips funding underwrote the MSc for seven years before being discontinued in 1995. Despite the international success of the MSc, UCL was not prepared to maintain it without support from the industry so David Loe and his Course Leader Kevin Mansfield were appealing to major companies to replace the Philips contribution. A chance meeting of Kevin Mansfield and Hugh Ogus of Poselco Lighting established that all the companies wished the course to continue but none was prepared to enter into an open-ended commitment. Most of the companies canvassed were members of the Lighting Industry Federation (LIF), of which body Hugh Ogus was a Council member and Past President.
With the help of a fellow Past President, David Rowden of Holophane Lighting, LIF Council was persuaded that a co-operative approach, whereby each company would pledge a contribution for at least five years, could “save the Bartlett”!
LIF Council suggested that a charitable trust be set up to manage the funding, but this would be best served under the auspices of a professional institution, with CIBSE the obvious choice. As Hugh Ogus was then Vice President of CIBSE and Past Chairman of its Lighting Division (now SLL), he approached Secretary Andrew Ramsay and President David Lush who quickly gained approval from the CIBSE Board to go ahead.
Andrew Ramsay was able to establish a charity, registered with the Charity Commission, to be known as the Lighting Education Trust, the Trustees being the Board of CIBSE, the Board of ILE (now ILP) and Hugh Ogus. They formed a management committee of Hugh Ogus, David Rowden and Mike Simpson of Philips, who was also President of ILE, the money came in from the LIF members (including Philips) plus some consultants and designers and the MSc continued as though nothing had happened!
2000
LET Diploma developed with London South Bank University and launched in the House of Lords.
Once the LET support for the Bartlett MSc was consolidated, the sponsoring companies directed attention to the lack of structured sub-degree courses to meet majority needs. Thus was born the LET Diploma in Lighting from a truly pan-industry effort between CIBSE, ILE, RIBA, LIF, IALD, the Bartlett, South Bank University and co-opted specialists, notably Vic Neal and Gerry Brown. Driven by Vic Neal, a comprehensive syllabus was agreed and developed by London South Bank University (LSBU) into an extensive distance learning programme. Under the management of Pasha Fuad and Les Norman, LSBU undertook to run the course on behalf of LET.
The LET Diploma in Lighting was launched, courtesy of LIF, with some fanfare at a reception in the House of Lords.
2012
Chairman of the Trustees, Hugh Ogus, appointed MBE.
This honour reflected his work in several fields of education.
2015
The Diploma was renamed the LET Diploma in Lighting Design.
Bob Venning continued to chair the Management committee, supported by senior figures within the lighting profession including Jeff Shaw and Ian Stanton. Though subject to continuous review and updating, it was seen that the original Diploma course required a new focus for which a rewrite was undertaken which added additional modules along with a strict time programme. This process, involving many volunteers from across the lighting industry, took 2 years to complete.
2020
Pandemic
Covid halted recruitment but support was maintained for existing students able to continue. Reserve funds were sufficient to ensure that a long pause in activities was not an existential threat.
2022
Appointment of additional Trustees.
Jeff Shaw and Iain Macrae were appointed Trustees.

It is no coincidence that all the Trustees have held office in SLL and CIBSE, with Mike Simpson having served as CIBSE President.
2023 (Latest)
New course tutor for Diploma.
Kristina Allison joined the management committee and took the role of course tutor.

Meet the Tutors

Find out about the tutors.

Kristina Allison, BA (Hons) MA CEng MSLL MCIBSE

Senior Lighting Designer – AtkinsRealis UK (Lighting)

Kristina is a senior lighting designer for AtkinsRealis with a background delivering sustainable lighting design and has passion for environmentally aware lighting solutions for infrastructure and transportation projects. She has worked in the lighting industry as a designer and consultant for 17 years and is a Chartered Engineer (CEng), Member of the Society of Light and Lighting (MSLL), Member of CIBSE (MCIBSE). Recently Kristina has project managed and co-authored the industry leading documents CIBSE/SLL -TM66 ‘Creating a Circular Economy in the Lighting Industry’ and CIBSE TM65.2 – ‘Embodied Carbon in Building Services: Lighting’, for which both are multi-award winning publications. Currently, she is vice-president of the Society of Light and Lighting (SLL), past-chair of the SLL Education committee and technical co-ordinator for the Lighting Education Trust (LET).

Iain MacRae

Iain is a Chartered Engineer, designer, consultant and trainer and director at the training company Light Unwrapped, delivering blended learning as a recognised expert. Part of the training Iain delivers is the nationally recognised two-day emergency lighting course covering the legislation, risks, design methods and professional competence required to work in emergency lighting. Iain specifies and designs lighting solutions as well as working on business and product strategy, and product development for new and existing clients. He is also a globally experienced senior manager, speaker and mentor within the lighting industry. He is past president of the Society of Light & Lighting (SLL) and Chair of SLL Lighting Guide LG5 - Lighting for Education. He also works as a committee member on British and European standards panels.

Ruth Kelly Waskett PhD CEng MCIBSE FSLL

Project Director (Lighting), Hoare Lea LLP

Ruth is a lighting consultant with a background in lighting design, engineering, and academia. She’s driven by the need to champion great lighting in buildings, with a focus on integrating natural and artificial light. She has a particular interest in the real-life issues associated with automated building technology, particularly those that offer daylight and lighting control. She also has an interest in the use of immersive technologies to help understand the impact of design decisions. Ruth was President of the Society of Light & Lighting (SLL) in 2021-22, a part of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). She is a regular contributor at events in the Lighting and Built Environment industries. In 2022 she spoke at Hoare Lea’s flagship event, Designing the Future at the Royal Institution. Her talk, Blurred Lines, addressed the topic of how immersive technology and the metaverse could transform our understanding of reality and help us to design better. Ruth has contributed to several lighting guidance documents produced by CIBSE, SLL and others – most notably SLL Lighting Guide LG10 – Daylighting. She is a Board member of CIBSE and a visiting lecturer at University College London, with involvement in the MSc in Light & Lighting and MEng in Engineering & Architectural Design. Ruth was a winner in the Engineering category of the 2022 Women in Lighting Awards.

Alan Tulla FSLL, FILP

Alan Tulla FSLL, FILP, is an experienced lighting professional. He is both a qualified engineer and award-winning lighting designer. He is a Fellow and Past President of the Society of Light and Light (SLL) and holds their Diploma in Lighting. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Lighting Professionals (ILP). Following many years in technical management for lighting equipment manufacturers, Alan worked as a specialist architectural lighting designer for engineering consultancies. He started his own consultancy in 2011, specialising in lighting for the exterior environment. During his career, he has lived and worked both in France and the Middle East. For many years Alan edited and wrote articles for the SLL Newsletter, Light Lines magazine. He was also the principal author and Chair of the SLL Guide LG6 - The Exterior Environment. Throughout much of this time Alan was also - Technical Editor of the industry journal Lux magazine for 10 years too.

Trustees

Hugh Joseph Ogus, MBE
Iain Macrae
Jeffrey Shaw
John William Southcote Aston, FSLL
Michael David Simpson
Robert Graham Venning, BA, C.ENG

LET Brochure

The LET Diploma in Lighting Design is a 2-year  distance e-learning course in Lighting Design and is an industry-recognised and valued professional qualification in lighting. Download our brochure now to find out more about the LET and the course.
Download the Brochure
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