Across Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 June, we welcomed over 38,000 participants to Exhibition Road as part of the Great Exhibition Road Festival. A free annual celebration of science and the arts, the Festival explored the trailblazing ideas, people and communities that are changing our world through a series of talks, exhibitions and workshops.

Imperial College London partnered with the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, V&A and Royal College of Music, as well as the Goethe-Institut, Royal College of Art, Royal Parks and the Royal Geographical Society to co-ordinate and deliver a unique programme of events. As in previous years, the full programme drew on the vast wealth of expertise from the College, museums and cultural institutions who collaborated to deliver it.

Olympian Sir Mo Farah even dropped by the Festival to encourage visitors to ‘exercise their mind.’  

We would like to thank everyone who took part in the festival, from the wonderful volunteers to fantastic contributors, all of whom made the weekend a special and memorable event for both ourselves and the many attendees. Without your effort and dedication, the Festival would not be possible.

We now look ahead to 2023, as the Great Exhibition Road Festival is set to return on 17 - 18 June! Proposals for next year's Festival are expected to open this autumn, so keep an eye on our newsletter to find out when you can submit your ideas.

The President’s Awards for Excellence in Societal Engagement recognise and reward staff, students and community partners who have delivered excellence in schools engagement, community engagement, engagement with research and/or patient engagement.

Dr Victoria Male, Lecturer in Reproductive Immunology in the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, has been awarded the President’s Medal for Excellence in Societal Engagement for her work engaging with and helping to inform the public, particularly about COVID-19 vaccine safety in pregnancy.  

Her work meant that thousands of women had access to accurate and understandable information to enable them to make an informed decision about COVID-19 vaccination. This was particularly important between April and December 2021, when clear national messaging from the Government and others was lacking. 

Reflecting on winning the medal, Victoria said: “It means a lot to my whole family, really. I've spent a lot of evenings and weekends over the last 18 months engaging with people about COVID vaccination... chasing my kids out of the room so I could do webinars and interviews without them wandering into shot (although I didn't entirely avoid that!). It's nice to feel like all that work and time is valued.”  

Congratulations to all of the winners of this year’s President’s Awards for Excellence in Societal Engagement.

The Achievement Award for Societal Engagement

• Individual Award winner: Dr Izhar Shah, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Team Award winner: JAMVENT outreach team, Department of Bioengineering and Department of Surgery and Cancer (Dr Joseph van-Batenburg Sherwood, Dr Jennifer Frattolin, Dr Michael Madekurozwa and Dr Jakob Mathiszig-Lee)
• Individual Award highly commended: Dr Marc Masen, Department of Mechanical Engineering

The Leadership Award for Societal Engagement

• Winner: Dr Jackie Bell, Department of Computing

Student Award for Excellence in Societal Engagement

• Individual Award winner: Hamza Ikhlaq, Faculty of Medicine
• Team Award winner: Inspiring Design, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Peter Adesina, Javier Cañada Pérez-Sala, He-in Cheong, Pepe Puchol-Salort and Terry Ugama)

Inspirational Partner Award for Excellence in Societal Engagement

• Individual Award winner: Louisa Thompson
• Team Award winner: Nova Opportunities (Matthew Barnett, Lizzie Cho, Aimee Ling)

Understanding Animal Research (UAR) is re-launching an exciting initiative to help children learn more about animal research.

They are in partnership with secondary schools nationwide to host people working in animal research within classrooms to discuss the importance of their job for the progress of science.

You will receive full UAR training and will be in direct contact with the partner schools to deliver the talk at a day and time of your convenience. 

If you would like to volunteer or have any questions, please email Anna Napolitano.