Glasgow Science Festival to return - here is what you need to know

Glasgow Science Festival is on the event horizon again with the official programme unveiled today as it returns in June for its 18th year.

Focusing on the theme of Glasgow's Transforming, the festival will celebrate the city’s long-standing position on the cutting edge of science and technology.

The program will feature representatives from UK universities, voluntary organisations and government bodies, leading more than 150 activities, talks, workshops, and exhibitions between June 6 and 16.

Events will take place in a range of famous buildings across the city including the Riverside, Kelvingrove and Hunterian Museums and the Botanic Gardens as well as world-leading scientific facilities such as the University of Glasgow’s new Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre.

Attendees will have the chance to learn more about the city’s involvement in health and wellbeing research, innovative tech breakthroughs, the intersections between art and science, the importance of nature and biodiversity and Glasgow’s rich scientific and industrial heritage.

One of the festival highlights is sure to be the outdoor cinema at St Mungo Square showing Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity and a family screening of Disney Pixar’s Lightyear as well as a number of other science-related short films.

The festival is the beneficiary of funding and support from the Scottish Government and the University of Glasgow.

Richard Lochhead, Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade, said: “Glasgow is a centre of world-class science, innovation and research.

“The Science Festival celebrates that proud tradition and enables people to learn about and share in the city’s new achievements.

“I hope it also inspires the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians and entrepreneurs, whose skills we will need as Scotland grows the sustainable industries of the future. That is why the Scottish Government is delighted to support this wonderful event and others like it right across the country.”

June also sees the return of the festival’s Science on the Sofa programme offering a selection of online educational activities which can be accessed from the festival’s website throughout June. Topics covered will include dealing with plastic waste, tackling the threat of viruses making the jump from animals to humans, and how women are contributing to space research.

Festival director Dr Deborah McNeill, of the University of Glasgow, said: “Glasgow has been in a state of reinvention for hundreds of years, shapeshifting from a world leader in textiles, shipbuilding and engineering to the pioneering hub for a wide range of science and medical research that it is today.

“This year’s festival will celebrate that spirit of invention with events for visitors of all ages. It’s particularly apt that we’ll be exploring the ways in which Glasgow’s transforming during the year which the city celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Lord Kelvin, who contributed so much to the modern world, from laying to first transatlantic telegraph cable to developing the temperature scale that bears his name.

“I’m looking forward to welcoming people from across the city, around Scotland and beyond to this year’s festival, and virtual visitors to our Science of the Sofa programme.”

The festival will continue its relationship with schools through the Creating Engineers competition, which invites pupils from P5 and P6 to tackle challenges using k:Nex kits.

Also running is a competition for children aged between four and 18 to develop ideas for apps that could solve real-life problems using science, technology, engineering and maths.

Winning entries will be displayed at the Riverside Museum between June 6 and 16.