British Science Festival 2026 in Southampton

Southampton is about to have a busy week in September. The 195th British Science Festival lands here from Wednesday 16 to Sunday 20 September, run in partnership with the University of Southampton, and it is the first time the city has hosted the festival since 1992. The programme is spread across the university's campuses and venues around the city centre, with roughly 100 free events — exhibitions, performances and installations — curated by the British Science Association, the university and its partners.

The headline moment comes from Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton and the new British Science Association President, who delivers her Presidential Address and a conversation with BBC Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman about the future of AI. The university's AI research is a natural fit here: Southampton leads on reliable and secure artificial intelligence and is home to the UK's first centre dedicated to cancer immunology research. The city also pioneered the fibre-optic technology that underpins the internet, mobile phones and ATMs.

There is a lot to pick from day by day. Wednesday opens with 'The living autopsy' at 6pm in the Centenary Building's Lecture Theatre A, while 'Electromagnetic art' runs earlier that afternoon in the Harvard Lecture Theatre. Thursday's 'Call Me, Mother Nature' takes the main auditorium at Turner Sims at 8pm. Friday is the busiest day: 'The skate equation' runs across Guildhall Square, 'Retelling the land – Sustainable songs' is at Stage Door at 3.30pm, 'Screening entangled futures' shows at the John Hansard Gallery at 5.30pm, 'Show Runner: Prime time with AI' is at The Artisan at 6pm, and 'Southampton and the disappearing night' closes the evening at the Sir James Matthews Building. Saturday brings 'The Ocean Remembers' to the Southampton City Art Gallery at 3.30pm, a musical piece bringing together Jason Singh, Yazz Ahmed and the university's Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, and Sunday wraps up with 'The People's Emergency Briefing' at 3.30pm in the Sir James Matthews Building and 'Southampton's Spogomi showdown' at The Artisan at 10am.

Beyond the talks, there is plenty to do. A workshop on the mathematics of skating comes with live demonstrations from local skaters; a guided foraging walk to rediscover Southampton's delicacies; a night of electronic music inspired by the sounds of the ocean; cocktails with a marine twist; learning to grow mushrooms from kitchen waste; singing songs for a sustainable future; a workshop with local authors to explore nature; exploring living with dementia; yoga for better health; becoming a detective of the deep with the archaeology team at Southampton City Council; building a new Southampton of your dreams through AI; and a catwalk fashion show by Ugandan designers on the power of vaccines, developed with Professor Chrissie Jones and artist Luke Jerram.

The panel discussions pull in voices from across the south coast and beyond: Juliane Kaminski, Associate Professor in Comparative Psychology at the University of Portsmouth's Dog Cognition Centre, on how much dogs really understand; evolutionary behavioural scientist Dr Rebecca Sear from Brunel University of London on the resurgence of eugenics; PhD researcher Andrew Blair from the University of Glasgow introducing a robot to a centuries-old cathedral; and marine biologist Daniel Moore from the University of Exeter on how climate change has impacted deep-sea sharks.

Tickets are free but must be booked in advance at www.britishsciencefestival.org, so it is worth sorting yours before the sessions fill up.