A lighting system comprising: at least one luminaire arranged to illuminate an area shared by a plurality of users; a communications interface configured to rcccivc, from at least one of the users, at least one level adjustment instruction denoting an illumination level instructed by that user for the shared area; an illumination controller configured, when operating in a manual control mode for the shared area, to control the at least one luminaire to emit illumination at the illumination level denoted by the most recently received of the level adjustment instruction(s); a modelling module configured to generate in a memory of the lighting system a plurality of user profiles, one each for a respective one of the users and each comprising preference information, wherein the preference information of each of the user profiles comprises an illumination level preferred by its respective user and wherein the preference information for the at least one user is derived from his at least one level adjustment instruction; and a processing module configured to determine a consensus illumination level for the shared area, by applying an averaging function to the preferred illumination levels of at least two of the user profiles stored in the memory; characterised in that the illumination controller is configured, in response to a mode switch instruction, to switch to an automatic control mode for the shared area, by controlling the at least one luminaire to emit illumination at the determined consensus illumination level; wherein the preference information of each of the user profiles also comprises an associated tolerance value denoting a tolerance of its respective user to deviations from his preferred illumination level, which the modelling module is configured to determine for the at least one user based on at least two level adjustment instructions received from that user, and wherein the processing module is configured, in applying the averaging function, to weight the preferred illumination levels of the at least two user profiles according to their associated tolerance values. at least one luminaire arranged to illuminate an area shared by a plurality of users; a communications interface configured to rcccivc, from at least one of the users, at least one level adjustment instruction denoting an illumination level instructed by that user for the shared area; an illumination controller configured, when operating in a manual control mode for the shared area, to control the at least one luminaire to emit illumination at the illumination level denoted by the most recently received of the level adjustment instruction(s); a modelling module configured to generate in a memory of the lighting system a plurality of user profiles, one each for a respective one of the users and each comprising preference information, wherein the preference information of each of the user profiles comprises an illumination level preferred by its respective user and wherein the preference information for the at least one user is derived from his at least one level adjustment instruction; and a processing module configured to determine a consensus illumination level for the shared area, by applying an averaging function to the preferred illumination levels of at least two of the user profiles stored in the memory; characterised in that the illumination controller is configured, in response to a mode switch instruction, to switch to an automatic control mode for the shared area, by controlling the at least one luminaire to emit illumination at the determined consensus illumination level; wherein the preference information of each of the user profiles also comprises an associated tolerance value denoting a tolerance of its respective user to deviations from his preferred illumination level, which the modelling module is configured to determine for the at least one user based on at least two level adjustment instructions received from that user, and wherein the processing module is configured, in applying the averaging function, to weight the preferred illumination levels of the at least two user profiles according to their associated tolerance values.