Light Symposium 2026

Sensing Light — Measurements, Phenomenology, Atmosphere & Experience

We invite researchers, practitioners, designers, artists, and students to submit original contributions for Light Symposium 2026. This edition explores how light functions not only as illumination, but how light can be sensed and based on this, how we can design for environmental and human experience: Light is increasingly used to improve well-being, to create experiences, and to shape perception – from integrative lighting and adaptive architecture to interactive art, and data-driven environment control.

LS2026 aims to foster interdisciplinary exchange across lighting design, architecture, human behaviour, environmental science, data science, art, media technology, urban planning, and beyond – to rethink what it means to “sense light” in built and natural environments.

Topics of interest (but not limited to)

  • Daylight benefits and optimization: Daylight and lighting meeting human needs for natural environments, Dynamic lighting, Responsive facades, Daylight design
  • Light, health and behavior: Indoor climate and comfort, Light and well-being, Biological impact of lighting, Integrative lighting, Flicker
  • Adaptive & responsive lighting systems: Dynamic control responding to human presence, Activities or environmental cues.
  • Light and perception: Human visual and non-visual responses; Physiological, Psychological, and neuro-cognitive effects of temporally or spatially modulated lighting.
  • Light as communication: Signalling light in architecture, urban space, and interactive media; Light for information display, Wayfinding, human–machine interfaces.
  • Data-driven lighting and smart environments: Integration of light with sensors, IoT, AI/machine learning for responsive and context-aware environments.
  • Light for wellbeing and comfort: Personalized lighting solutions, Circadian-aware design, Light for mental and physical health in indoor and outdoor settings.
  • Designing with darkness: Darkness-aware planning, Reduced illuminance strategies, Balancing light and darkness.
  • Urban Lighting: Lighting for cultural heritage, Light as an urban narrative tool, co-creation through community participation.
  • Artistic & experiential perspectives: Light in art, Installations, Immersive environments, Experiential architecture.
  • Light and environment: Sustainable sensing, Light-based systems for monitoring biodiversity, Urban environment, climate or ecological parameters.
  • Ethical, social and cultural aspects: Privacy, Human experience, Accessibility, Social equity in lighting spaces; Societal implications of light as data medium.
  • Methodologies, standards and evaluation: measuring and evaluating light, Technical methods, Usability studies, Human-centric evaluation, Design frameworks.
  • Methodologies in Lighting Research and Education: Cross disciplinary methods

Who should submit

We welcome submissions from early-career researchers, seasoned academics, industry professionals, practitioners, artists, students and multidisciplinary teams.

Submission will be in the format of an abstract describing a work that refers to one of the following two types:

  • Abstract of a Full paper: upon acceptance following double-blind peer review, the work will be also submitted later as a full paper, will be presented during the conference, and published in the conference proceedings.
  • Abstract of a Conference presentation only: upon acceptance following double-blind peer review, the work will be presented during the conference, but will not be submitted as a full paper and published in the proceedings. This work can be for example case studies, design projects, work-in-progress, reflections, or artistic/creative proposals, etc.