Cheltenham Science Festival announces full programme as it returns for its 21st year

Cheltenham Science Festival is delighted to announce 2023’s unmissable programme, as it celebrates its 21st birthday in The Festival Town with 138 events and 270 of the best scientists, thinkers, writers and creators, promising something for every curious mind of every age.

From Tuesday 6 to Sunday 11 June Cheltenham once again plays host to the Festival Village, where guests will be exposed to the latest thinking about what makes us tick. Themes explored range from the everyday to the out of this world including: gender; mental health; disaster response; politics; faith; climate change; and even football! Other topics covered span art and design, social sciences, psychology and neuroscience, chemistry, engineering, entertainment, the environment, history, current affairs, technology, food, sport, space and the universe.

Events will take place across venues in and around Cheltenham’s Imperial Square, including Cheltenham Town Hall and the Festival’s free Apollo Stage. The Festival also features three Interactive Zones, where visitors can get hands-on with science, and The Week Junior’s Science and Nature Trail across the site.

2023 marks the third year of the Festival’s ‘Be the Change’ theme, inviting audiences to consider their individual and collective role in shaping the future and the central place of science in this process.

In line with the theme, this year’s Guest Curators will be focusing on everything from mental wellbeing to social change and human behaviours. The line-up comprises: BBC Radio 4 – All in the Mind presenter and author, Claudia Hammond (mental and physical health, psychology and neuroscience); doctor, BBC broadcaster and children’s television presenter, Chris van Tulleken (human health, food and nutrition); award-winning documentary and podcast maker, creative director and writer, Hana Walker-Brown (social science, neuroscience, human behaviour, how we respond to the ever-changing world); award-winning mental health and wellbeing campaigner, Sophia Kaur Badhan (mental wellbeing, women’s health, changemaking); and the return of the Festival's AI Guest Curator, AIDA, who has curated an (Art)ificial Intelligence event.

Kaur Badhan also leads a group of Young Changemakers who are making a difference in their communities, sure to inspire audiences far and wide. These include: Charlie Fogarty, an aspiring footballer who suffered a severe brain injury in 2012; Claudia MacGregor, who founded Soil Snack in 2022 with a mission to reimagine urban land usage; Cerys Bradley, who focuses on the link between the medicalisation of queerness and neurodiversity; and Alfie Bowen, a wildlife campaigner and photographer who raises awareness for both wildlife and autism. They will be telling their stories at We Make Tomorrow, a free event on the Apollo Stage.

To celebrate the Festival’s 21st birthday there will also be a FREE Friday Night Late for over 18s. Free activities available include learning to code a robot, an opportunity to be immersed in interactive science and an arcade with games of the past, present and future. Free events include the Vagina Museum’s Baijingo Bingo and the Alternative Comedy Night featuring host Shirley Halse introduced comics including Matt Hobs, Cerys Bradley and Hana Ayoob.

Following its digital programme at last year’s Festival, VOICEBOX, Cheltenham Festivals’ platform dedicated to bringing youth voices to the forefront, is back. As part of the Friday Night Late, there will also be a VOICEBOX POP-UP where audiences can explore the biggest issues of our time.

The Festival continues to offer ample opportunities for all ages to engage with science. In particular, the Festival plays its part in Cheltenham Festivals’ year-round pioneering talent development programmes, which support budding scientists to acquire skills to take their next career steps. A real highlight of the Festival will therefore be FameLab UK and FameLab International, respectively the largest public-facing science communication competition and training programme in the country and world. These programmes see researchers from across the UK and the globe compete for the title of best science communicator, with each participant having just 3 minutes to share their research.

Marieke Navin, Head of Programming at Cheltenham Science Festival said: “For six days in June, Cheltenham will be home to an incredible mix of people, who will be having conversations – with you! – about the biggest issues of our times. We use a variety of art forms, from spoken word, to comedy, to debate, to paddle boarding, all to bring science to life in the most creative ways possible.”

Booking for Cheltenham Science Festival opens to Cheltenham Festivals Members on Wednesday 18 April and general booking opens on Wednesday 25 April.

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