When?: Saturday 5th April – Sunday 20th April
What is it?: Last weekend marked the start of the Edinburgh Science Festival 2025! The event runs over Easter every year and includes lectures, shows and activities all around the city, designed to celebrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
This year, the festival is running from Saturday 5th April – Sunday 20th April, and includes 115 events hosted by 30 different venues, all with the overarching topic is ‘Spaceship Earth’. Events will use science fiction and space exploration themes to explore the finite resources on this planet and the issues that follow.
History: The Edinburgh Science Festival started in 1989 and, at the time, was the first public Science festival in the world. Thirty-five years later, the educational charity is still running and continues to promote STEM to the public.
Find more information and book tickets at https://www.edinburghscience.co.uk/
A Selection of 2025 Events:
- Injecting Hope: The Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine
When?: Tuesday 18th Feb – Sunday 27th Apr 2025
Where?: National Museum of Scotland
What?: Exhibition
Who?: All ages
Through important objects, the exhibition focuses on the research, development and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines, as well as the people that made it happen.
- Tiny Archives of Earth and Time
When?: Saturday 5th – Sunday 20th April 2025
Where?: Dynamic Earth
What?: Exhibition
Who?: All ages
Researchers from Heriot-Watt University will show how ocean microorganisms have made their mark on the climate, help us keep track of history and show us where we are heading in the future.
- The Art of Rocks
When?: 11:00am & 2:00pm, Saturday 5th April – Saturday 12th April 2025
Where?: Dynamic Earth
What?: Activity,
Who?: Ages 14+
Art workshop hosted by science illustrator Vojta Hýbl. You will gain a different understand of geology by exploring both the science and artistic side of rocks.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?
When?: 7pm, Monday 7th April 2025
Where?: Bayes Centre, Room G.03, University of Edinburgh
What?: Lecture/ Discussion
Who?: Ages 12yrs+
Although the global average life expectancy is increasing, are we just spending longer sicker? Join Professor Gillian Mead (Professor of Elderly Care), Daria Ihnatenko (Patient and Public Involvement Coordinator), Dr Emily Adrion (Senior Lecturer in Global Health Policy), Professor Jacques Fleuriot (expert in Artificial Intelligence) and Prof Neil Mabbott (Immunologist) as they talk you through how to stay healthy in later life.
- Who Dunit?
When?: 6:30pm, Tuesday 8th April 2025
Where?: Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh,
What?: Tour/ Trail,
Who?: Ages 15yrs+
Learn about the history of forensic science with this behind the scenes tour of the oldest medical library in Scotland from forensic expert Sir Sydney Smith whilst playing amateur detectives.
- Alzheimer’s: To Test or Not to Test
When?: 6pm Wednesday 9th April 2025,
Where?: Auditorium, National Museum of Scotland,
What?: Lecture/ Discussion
Who?: Ages 12yrs+,
Researchers are working hard on developing disease diagnostic methods years before symptoms begin. But for currently incurable diseases, like Alzheimer’s, would you want to know? Join a group of St Andrew’s University experts for an ethical discussion on the emotional and societal implications.
- Transplanting Hope: The UK’s First Womb Transplant
When?: 6pm, Thursday 10th April 2025,
Where?: Auditorium, National Museum of Scotland,
What?: Lecture
Who?: Ages 12yrs+
In 2023, doctors in successfully completed the UK’s womb transplant. Join Prof Richard Smith and Isabel Quiroga (surgeons and co-leaders of the project) as they share how their decades long mission shaped medical history.
- AI for All: Designing Responsibly
When?: 10am – 4pm, Friday 11th April 2025
Where?: Edinburgh Futures Institute
What?: Activities and Exhibitions
Who?: All ages
How do we keep ChatGPT or Siri accountable, fair and working well? Natural Language Processing is an area of AI that underpins these technologies and many more. Join the researchers at the Edinburgh Futures Institute for exhibits and drop-in activities to learn how they are creating a more responsible future.
- Meet the Scientists: The University of Edinburgh,
When?: 10am-4pm, Mon 14 – Wed 16 Apr 2025
Where?: Dynamic Earth
What?: Activity
Who?: All ages
Meet a group of researchers from the UoE to chat through challenging topics like AI and the climate crisis.
The Genetic Book of the Dead
When?: 6:30pm, Monday 14th April 2025
Where?: McEwan Hall, University of Edinburgh
What?: Lecture
Who?: Ages 12yrs+
Chaired by the University of Baths’ Prof Turi King, Richard Dawkins introduces his new book ‘the Genetic book of the Dead’, which explores Darwinian evolution.
Please note that this event has a BSL interpreter. If you would like to be in view of the interpreter, please book a BSL ticket.
Post by Eleanor Stamp, Online News Editor for EUSci and Neuroscience PhD student at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh.
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