Past festivals

The first Manchester Science Festival took place in 2007. The Festival has grown from strength to strength and with a fantastic network of partners, it is now one of the biggest science festivals in the UK. Below you can find more information about some of our past Festivals.

Manchester Science Festival 2010

The fourth Manchester Science Festival was held on 23-31 October 2010. Over 280 events were attended by more than 80,500 attendees.

We provided some truly unique experiences for people with projects like Super K Sonic BOOUM, an immersive installation created by Nelly Ben Hayoun, where visitors could find out what it was like to be in an underground neutrino observatory. Unsuspecting members of the public donned their wellies and lab coat and jumped aboard a boat to see what it’s like to be a particle physicist in Japan. The installation explored some really cutting-edge science, as well as being fun. It was a chance to experience an environment most of us would never get to see.

Super k

We also embarked on an ambitious community programme. As well as science busking, we delivered kitchen science workshops throughout each of the ten Greater Manchester boroughs. We put young people at the heart of the Festival, inviting them to get involved in the development and delivery of key projects. 18 year olds with little previous interest in science got together to work with scientists, ethicists and artists to explore the topic of human enhancement and develop creative performances for the public in a brand new Wellcome Trust funded project, Seeking Perfection.

Check out this film for a summary of Seeking Perfection and some of the young performers' opinions.

Our new projects have helped to provide new direction and act as a springboard to future innovative programmes and events.

Manchester Science Festival 2009

We kept the whole family entertained over half term! Visitors met the fastest car in the World, gazed up at the night’s sky or for a real treat the whole family got excited at our headline shows; Brainiac’s very own Dr Bunhead and best-selling “Horrible Science” author Nick Arnold.

And for the adults, something a little more sophisticated... a few risk takers dabbled with the science of luck, the brave scared themselves silly with our Science Festival fright-fest (paranormal and vampires galore!), and lots of people joined the debate on the latest hot topics. Many took their voyage of discovery at a more leisurely pace, exploring the science of the city by foot on one of our many themed walks. Others met science face-to-face with pros like Steve Jones and Richard Wiseman, and saw the funny side of science with some very talented stand-ups.

We took the Festival to Greater Manchester, with our famous science buskers, exhibitions and exciting events taking place in the most unusual of places. We even had online experiments to take part in from home.