Returning Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 June 2024, The Great Exhibition Road Festival will celebrate science and the arts with a diverse public audience of all ages.

After an estimated 50,000-55,000 people visited the last Great Exhibition Road Festival in June, the 2024 Festival will celebrate how science and the arts can help people, communities and nature flourish. Whether you've taken part many times before or have never done any public engagement, staff and students are invited to submit their ideas on how they would like to share their research through activities, performance, installations and discussions. As Imperial's flagship public engagement event, it's a brilliant way to develop new skills, engage the public with your projects, have fun and be part of something amazing.

This celebration of science, creativity and innovation is delivered in collaboration with our world-leading cultural neighbours including the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, Royal College of Music, V&A, and the Royal Albert Hall and many others.

Please submit your ideas before the deadline of Sunday 5 November. To learn more about taking part in the festival, join one of the ideas planning sessions tomorrow Thursday 19 or Tuesday 24 October.

Got an engagement idea but need help refining it? Looking to include an element of public engagement in your next funding proposal? Keen to apply for our societal engagement seed fund but not sure if your plans meet the required criteria?

Book a 30 minute one-to-one session (via Teams) with a member of the Public Engagement team to help answer your questions and discuss your engagement ideas. These sessions are completely tailored to what you would like to discuss – there is no such thing as a silly question!

Taking place on Wednesday 29 November, this year's Engagement Day will focus on youth-centred public engagement. Through a range of talks and workshops, we will be asking how we can meaningfully and equitably involve diverse young voices in our work, shaping society and bringing about change.

Alongside a keynote speech by Louise Archer and a panel discussion with our youth partners, the day will include 'deep dive' discussions that focus in on a particular topic in smaller groups. Register for Engagement Day, and choose which one of the three deep dive discussions you wish to take part in.

1. Safeguarding, ethics and engaging responsibly with young people: Discuss how to engage safely with young people and feel more confident to design and deliver your own activities. Talk through our responsibilities in terms of safeguarding, ethics, data and child protection with members of Imperial’s Outreach team. 

2. Art, activism and championing the voices of young people: Explore how to meaningfully involve young people in championing change and raising awareness on issues that matter, enabling youth voices to shape our world. Hear from engagement practitioners working with young people and youth activists in climate and the environment, with lessons for all areas of our work. Hosted by the Grantham Art Prize team. 

3. Social media, youth settings and how to reach young people: Discover creative and effective ways to reach young people and encourage them to take part in your programmes, in this discussion with a social media expert and a youth group lead. Whether online or through groups and networks, hear about where to share your messages and opportunities to build strong youth connections. 

From developing core engagement skills to exploring participatory research, discover the right tools to engage your audiences effectively through our Engagement Masterclasses. Open to all Imperial staff and doctoral students, we recommend completing our core engagement masterclass before joining the other workshops (unless you have previous engagement experience at Imperial or elsewhere). Please contact us with any questions. 

Core Engagement Masterclass:

• Exploring, Planning and Evaluating Engagement 
  14 November, 24 January or 15 May at South Kensington Campus

• Communication in Engagement 
  5 December, 24 January or 15 May at South Kensington campus

• Engagement, Funding and Impact  
  30 January or 5 June at South Kensington campus

• Digital Engagement 
  31 January via Zoom

• Participatory Research 
  6 February at South Kensington campus

The West London Healthy Home and Environment Study (WellHome) funded by UKRI through the SPF Clean Air Programme, and in collaboration with the local community, is focused on investigating the quality of air inside and outside a range of 100 homes in West London. WellHome’s fieldwork is deeply embedded within the homes of our local communities; therefore, significant long-term Community Engagement, Involvement and Participation (EIP) are essential for its success.

To achieve this, WellHome employs various innovative methods alongside community partners, such as educational sessions, workshops, panel discussions and interactive science activities, to raise awareness of air pollution, to launch the study and recruit households. Ten WellHome Ambassadors were recruited from residents in White City and its surrounding areas to support the delivery of the EIP programme. Over the past year, using a participatory video-making approach, some of the WellHome ambassadors captured the views of researchers, participants, community organisations and neighbourhood groups on the impact, effectiveness and challenges of the WellHome engagement, involvement, and participatory approach.

Imperial has a growing and active group of students, staff members and alumni from all areas of the College, who commit their time and expertise to support schools. School governors play a key role in helping set the strategic direction of schools and implementing best practice, in an advisory role, while leaving the day-to-day management of schools to head teachers and their staff. They are often referred to as the most important volunteer group in education.

Read about George Constantinides's experience and learn more about being a school governor.

Supported by the Societal Engagement Seed Fund, 'Periods!' is a women's health networking event hosted by The Bridge to raise awareness, create conversation, and tackle stigma around menstrual health.

This event will take place on 16 November at the White City Invention Rooms, W12 and it will feature a series of short films about Period Poverty and "talking tables" where you can explore ideas around taboos, experience, and realities of periods in our lives. Organised in collaboration with the Eritrean Social Community group to showcase periods products made by the local Sewing Group.

Register here for free

Do you have an event idea or interactive activity that you would like to propose for the Cheltenham Science Festival that's taking place in June 2024? The team would love to hear your ideas, whether it's for a show, workshop or panel event that can feature in next year's programme. It can be a fully formed proposal or just an idea.

If you’re interested, please click here.

Are you an early career scientist, technologist, engineer or mathematician, passionate about STEM, and would like to share your work with the world? Apply now to be part of FameLab UK, a public-facing, science communication competition and training programme.

You will be asked to prepare 3-minute talks on your area of interest, and will be judged on content, clarity and charisma. Winners will have the opportunity to attend a weekend masterclass in Cheltenham, as well as perform at the UK final as part of the Cheltenham Science Festival in June.

Find out more and apply.