The Glasgow Science Festival is set to return to the city next month with a bigger programme of free events than ever.
The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Glasgow’s Looking Forward’, and visitors have a wide range of activities, talks, demonstrations and shows to look forward to once the festival opens on 1st June.
A six-metre-wide floating vision of the entire Earth, physics lessons from trapeze artists, a live roleplaying visit to the Glasgow of the future, a sound installation on the history of science in Scotland, and a celebration of Govan’s ‘Wee Forest’ are among the highlights of this year’s programme.
Now in its 17th year, the festival will stage more than 100 events for visitors of all ages at an expanded range of venues across the city, including the Botanic Gardens, Kelvin Hall, the Mitchell Library and the Kelvingrove, Riverside and Hunterian Museums.
The University of Glasgow’s new Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre, the Community Circus Paisley, and the Mackintosh Queen’s Cross will also host events for the first time, along with a series of local libraries and community spaces.
The popular Science on the Sofa programme, established when the festival was forced to go online during covid lockdowns in 2020, is also making a return this year.
For the whole of June, the Festival’s website will host a series of engaging videos from experts at universities and other institutions across the UK. Viewers will have the chance to learn about cyber security, climate change, virology, biology, misinformation and more, as well as the chance to interact with leading researchers in a series of live chats.
Dr Deborah McNeill of the University of Glasgow is the Glasgow Science Festival’s director. She said: “Glasgow has a proud history of making breakthroughs in science and engineering, and the programme we’ve put together this year offers a fantastic range of events which celebrate the city’s past successes and showcases some of the innovations which are being developed here today.
“We have something in the programme everyone, from family-focused events at the Botanics and the city’s museums which offer kids a chance to engage with science and learn from real researchers, to music and comedy shows geared more towards adults.
“We’re really proud of the selection of events we’ve put together this year, and we’re looking forward to welcoming people to the city to celebrate science with us from June 1st.”
Glasgow Science Festival runs in venues across the city from the 1st to 11th June, most events are free. To browse the programme, please visit www.glasgowsciencefestival.org.uk
