There are over 40 science festivals who are members of the UK Science Festivals Network. Last year, these festivals put on over 4,000 events and collectively reached over 1 million people. 

This summer, the BSA has partnered with Yakult to raise awareness of science festivals and their power to engage, excite and inspire a whole host of audiences from families, to adults to community groups.  

Science festivals feature a huge range of talks, installations, and hand-on activities. They are a fantastic way to showcase science in a relevant and fun way – giving people the opportunity to meet scientists and find out about the valuable work they do to improve our lives, health, society and the environment; and they offer a chance for people to try out new things via workshops and experiments.

The BSA and Yakult want to encourage more people, especially those who have not been to a science festival before, to consider attending one as part of their plans for this summer - alongside carnivals, food festivals, music festivals and sporting events.

Find a science festival near you!

Explore our list below of the science festivals taking place across the UK this summer and autumn - we hope to see you there!

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Town, city or county	Festival name	Dates
London	Science Fiction Theatre Festival	27 May - 01 June 2019
Bristol and Bath	Festival of Nature	01 - 09 June 2019
Gloucestershire	Cheltenham Science Festival	04 - 09 June 2019
Glasgow	Glasgow Science Festival	06 - 16 June 2019
Bournemouth	Festival of Learning	15 - 19 June 2019
Preston	Lancashire Science Festival	27 - 29 June 2019
London	Imperial Festival	29 - 30 June 2019
London	Summer Science Exhibition	01 - 07 July 2019
Essex	Basildon Street Science	13 July 2019
Bradford	Bradford Science Festival	18 - 21 July 2019
Cheshire	Bluedot	18 - 21 July 2019
Merthyr Tydfil	Merthyr Tydfil Science Festival	20 July 2019
Wales	Science Village, National Eisteddfod of Wales	03 - 10 August 2019
Birmingham & Manchester	BLAST Fest	09 -12 August 2019
Coventry & Warwickshire	British Science Festival	10 - 13 September 2019
Hull	Hull Science Festival	13 - 15 September 2019
Exeter	Sidmouth Science Festival	04 - 10 October 2019
Midlothian	Midlothian Science Festival	05 - 19 October 2019
Dundee	Dundee Science Festival	05 - 20 October 2019
Peterborough	Peterborough STEM Festival	12 October 2019
Norwich	Norwich Science Festival	18 - 26 October 2019
Oxfordshire	IF Oxford	18 - 28 October 2019
Swansea	Swansea Science Festival	26 - 27 October 2019
Scotland	Festival of Physics	26 - 28 October 2019
London	South East London STEAM Festival	26 October 2019
UK-wide	ESRC Festival of Social Science	02 - 09 November 2019
Brighton	Brighton Science Festival	February 2020
Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland Science Festival	14 - 24 February 2020
Nottingham	Nottingham Festival of Science & Curiosity	12 - 19 February 2020
Cardiff	Cardiff Science Festival	15 - 18 February 2020
Southampton	Southampton Science & Engineering Festival	06 - 15 March 2020
Bath	Bath Taps Into Science	07 - 13 March 2020
Cambridge	Cambridge Science Festival	09 - 22 March 2020
Abingdon-on-Thames	ATOM Festival	14 - 22 March 2020
Guildford	Innovate Guildford	March 2020
West Yorkshire	Leeds Festival of Science	March /April 2020
Edinburgh	Edinburgh Science Festival	April 2020
Weston-Super-Mare	Big Bang @ Weston-super-Mare	April 2020
Sheffield	AlgoMech	May 2020
Lincolnshire	Gravity Fields Festival	23 - 27 September 2020
London	SMASHFest	2020 dates TBA
Manchester	Manchester Science Festival	2020 dates TBA

See our buskers in action

This summer, the BSA and Yakult's team of 'Science, Not Magic!' buskers will be visiting some non-science festivals in Coventry and Warwickshire to celebrate the forthcoming British Science Festival 2019, which is being held in the region in partnership with the University of Warwick.  

You can see them at:

• Coventry MotoFest, 2 June 2019;
• Godiva Festival, 6 July 2019;
• Warwick Folk Festival, 27 July 2019; and
• the special Family Day at the University of Warwick to celebrate its hosting of the British Science Festival, on 14 September 2019.

Or try some hands-on science at home... 

Our audience research has found that many people do not actively engage in science, and find it a difficult subject to get involved with.  The BSA and Yakult see science as more than just a subject to be studied at school or a job for people in labs - we see science as the way in which we explore and ask questions about our lives and the world around us. 

Hands-on experimentation and finding things out together can be a great way of building the science confidence of both parents/ grandparents and children.

Why not download our tricks to try at home leaflet and have a go at some hands-on science activities as a family this half-term or summer holiday?  Don't forget to share your experiences with us on social media, using the hashtag #ScienceNotMagic! 

About Yakult

As a company with a strong science heritage, Yakult is committed to showcasing the role of science in everyday life. 

Yakult has partnered with the BSA for the last three years on activities to support British Science Week and the British Science Festival.  This year, our partnership includes a campaign to raise awareness of and celebrate science festivals and also includes supporting science busking at non-science events in the West Midlands region in the lead up to the British Science Festival 2019 taking place in Coventry & Warwickshire this September.

You can find out more about our partnership here.