Newcastle ScienceFest is a 10-day event at venues across

NewcastleGateshead NewcastleGateshead is a brand-name associated with the joint promotion of culture, business and tourism within the conurbation formed by Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. With the use of printed matter and a web-site, the organisation produces ...

, with the principal aim of increasing the North East's enthusiasm for science and encouraging young people to consider a career in this area.

Early history

The first

Science Festival A science festival is a festival that showcases science and technology with a similar atmosphere to an arts or music festival, and that primarily targets the general public. These public engagement events can be varied, including lectures, exhi ...

programme in the city ran from 2002 – 2007. In 2008, funding from One NorthEast was awarded for an additional three festivals (2009–2011). The festival is delivered in partnership with Centre for Life,

Tyne and Wear Museums North East Museums (previously Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums / TWAM) is a regional group of United Kingdom National Museums of the United Kingdom, national museums and the county archives service located across the Tyne and Wear area of north-ea ...

, Newcastle Science City,

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local authority for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. Newcastle has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. ...

and culture10 as part of NewcastleGateshead’s world-class programme of festivals and events.

Relaunch

In 2009, the festival was re-launched with a new brand identity and website. There were three key strands of the programme catering for three different audiences; families, adults and schools. It included two family weekend events (7/8 & 14/15 March) and a series of adult events (lectures/science fiction/performances) during the week, as well as activities specifically for schools. The highlight of the week was the first

Maker Faire Maker Faire is a convention of do it yourself (DIY) enthusiasts established by '' Make'' magazine in 2006. Participants come from a wide variety of interests, such as robotics, 3D printing, computers, arts and crafts, and hacker culture. Hist ...

event in the UK, which was held at the Centre for Life and Discovery Museum on the 14 and 15 March. Although there was no overarching theme for 2009, some events integrated with the national agenda. For example, to celebrate

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

's 200th birthday, the festival commissioned the Darwin Brewery in Sunderland to develop a commemorative beer called

Natural Selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

which was available throughout March. In 2010, ScienceFest saw the return of Maker Faire – an event for DIY technology and craft, ScienceFest After Dark – a series of late night, adult only events and events specially focussed on developing science literacy skills. Headline makers included the world’s fastest Rubik’s cube solving robot, Power Tool Drag Racing and the UK’s most advanced musical tesla coil. Newcastle Science Festival 2010 was attended by 51,000 people, including families, adults and children, across 120 events at 23 locations over a 10-day period. This represents an increase from 2009 where 48,500 people attended the event over a similar 10-day period.

References

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External links

Newcastle ScienceFest
Science festivals in the United Kingdom Science and technology in Tyne and Wear Festivals in Tyne and Wear Science events in the United Kingdom