Webinar: Night-Time Street Lighting and Crime – Dr. Phil Edwards
Did switching off street lights at night increase crime—or actually reduce it? Dr. Phil Edwards from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and leader of the LANTERNS Project, presents new NIHR-funded research showing that streets with part-night lighting (PNL) saw vehicle thefts halved compared to the same streets before PNL.
Drawing on 10 years of police crime data from Thames Valley, the study examined the effects of PNL, dimming, and white light on multiple crime types, including residential burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, and violence. The findings challenge common assumptions about street lighting and public safety, highlighting how careful lighting design can save energy without compromising safety.
Join this webinar to hear from one of the UK’s leading experts in crime, public health, and street lighting, and learn how evidence-based lighting strategies can make our streets safer and more sustainable.
Your Speaker
Dr. Phil Edwards is a British statistician, epidemiologist, and academic. He is a Chartered Statistician of the Royal Statistical Society and a professor in the Department of Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Dr. Edwards’ research focuses on injury epidemiology and prevention, as well as data collection methodology. He has received grants from institutions including the Department of Health and the National Institute for Health and Care Research. He earned a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Warwick and a PhD in Epidemiology from LSHTM. Dr. Edwards has held academic positions at Newcastle University, University College London, and LSHTM, where he has been a faculty member since 2001.
