Experience WATERLICHT in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens this Science Week
For Science Week 2026, Research Ireland invites you to experience WATERLICHT, a dream landscape that explores the power and poetry of water.
Created by Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde, WATERLICHT uses LEDs and lenses to create a virtual flood, illustrating how high water levels could rise. It is designed to remind us of the importance of water innovation and the impact of climate change.
As waves of blue light move above us, we have the opportunity to imagine a future shaped by the power of water. The experience also gives us a moment to reflect on our own vulnerability as water levels rise and consider the important role innovation can play in helping us adapt to a changing climate.
Waterlicht takes place in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens from 6.30-9.30pm on the 13th and 14th November.
Water has always shaped the world around us, from our landscapes to our communities. However, our relationship with water is changing. WATERLICHT asks us to imagine what rising water could mean for the places we know. By transforming the familiar landscape of Iveagh Gardens into a virtual flood, it makes something that can sometimes feel abstract or distant suddenly feel much closer to home.
It also asks us to look ahead. How can we better understand our changing relationship with water? How can we prepare and adapt? What role can research and innovation play in helping us respond?
From Molecule to Ocean: Experiencing the Power of Water
WATERLICHT speaks directly to this year’s Science Week theme, Water: from molecule to ocean. This theme invites us to explore water at every scale, from something fundamental to life to a powerful force that shapes our landscapes, climate and communities.
WATERLICHT brings this power into focus. Standing beneath a virtual flood encourages us to consider not only the forces shaping the world around us, but how our understanding of water can help us respond to change and prepare for the future.
Understanding rising water
Research supported through the Co-Centre for Climate + Biodiversity + Water, co-funded by Research Ireland, is helping us understand how climate change will affect sea levels around Ireland. Multiple factors related to climate change, including continued rises in global temperature, will affect sea level change in Ireland, and across the world. Through programmes like Rising Issues different possibilities for sea-level rise are explored together with communities, helping us to consider how our coastlines may change over time.
Anticipating floods
Understanding the risk is one part of the challenge. Research can also help us to better anticipate when flooding may happen.
StopFloods4.ie, led by researchers at the University of Galway, is investigating the development of a new flood forecasting system for coastal and river flooding in Ireland. The research combines approaches including hydrodynamic modelling, machine learning and artificial intelligence and aims to help us better understand and manage flood risks. Read more about this research here.
Adapting to change
WATERLICHT asks us to imagine what a future shaped by rising water might look like. However, these future changes are more than just the physical landscape: they will also affect the people who live, work and have built their lives here.
Research can help us understand the human side of climate adaptation, including how environmental change affects communities and how people can prepare, respond and build resilience. By understanding these experiences alongside the physical changes taking place, we can think more broadly about what successful adaptation might look like.
WATERLICHT gives us the opportunity to experience an imagined future through art. Research gives us another perspective, helping us understand what lies ahead and giving us knowledge and tools to respond.
Together, art and research invite us to think differently about our relationship with water: not only to consider the challenges ahead, but to recognise our ability to prepare, adapt and help shape what comes next.
About the artist
Daan Roosegaarde’s work explores the relationship between people, technology and the world around us. He founded Studio Roosegaarde in 2007, working with a team to create innovative landscapes that encourage people to imagine and experience possible futures.
Read more about Studio Roosegaarde and WATERLICHT here.
Science Week 2026
Coordinated annually by Research Ireland and running this year from November 8th-15th with hundreds of events nationwide, Science Week encourages everyone to think more about and celebrate science in our everyday lives. The initiative directly engages an audience of approximately 200,000 people each year through in-person events and online engagement.
Discover an event near you: www.scienceweek.ie
