Bella Spencer is the Festival Engagement Manager for the British Science Festival. In this article she shares her experience of curating the events for BSF26 which will take place in Southampton from 16-20 September 2026.
As we count down the days until the British Science Festival comes to life in Southampton, I wanted to share a glimpse behind the scenes to reveal how we put the Festival programme together.
With over 80 events at this year’s Festival, I’ll also highlight some of the events I’m most looking forward to (although, at this point it’s like choosing my favourite children!) to help you build your dream Festival agenda.
The British Science Festival is Europe’s longest standing science festival and one of the only science festivals aimed exclusively at an adult audience.
This is my second year of working as Festival Engagement Manager, and I’ve just about got the hang of it.
My role is to curate the 80+ free events that make up the Festival. This involves sifting open calls, working with cultural partners to commission new events and inviting exciting scientists, artists and activists to be part of the Festival.
I always work with our audience in mind and aim to put on events that will surprise, inspire, intrigue and challenge ideas of what science is. I want to show how science is not just something that lives in classrooms and labs, but instead threads through all aspects of our lives. I look for event formats that bring ideas to life through theatre, dance, creativity, music and play, and topics that show how science impacts society.
Open Call for events
The programming process began in October, straight off the back of delivering the 2025 Festival in Liverpool. After catching up on sleep and coming down from the buzz of a jam-packed Festival, we started with a call for content across the University of Southampton.
We selected 25 events that showcase the breadth of the research taking place across the city. The events span topics and formats from a catwalk highlighting the importance of vaccination during pregnancy, a skating workshop illustrating the maths required to land the trick, cooking demonstrations highlighting the impact of what we eat on our environment and so much more.
In November, we launched an open call across the UK and received over 100 applications from scientists, science communicators, artists, community leaders and activists. Reading the open call is such a celebration of the brilliance of the thinkers and creators across Britian.
We had the challenging task of selecting 20 events, which include a new musical about the most significant British scientist you’ve never heard of, an immersive installation about the sensory organs of fish, films about climate activism and much more.
Collaborating with researchers
In order to ensure the Festival captures the hottest research from across the UK, we work with both established and emerging researchers. We select seven researchers, who are in the first five years of their science career, and provide training and mentorship to support them to develop engaging talks about their research.
These early career scientists will talk about topics ranging from church-going robots, deep-sea mining, the importance of night-time and beyond. In parallel, we collaborate with a group of established academics who put forward researchers who are leading thinkers in their field. These speakers will explore subjects such as the resurgence of eugenics, how young people navigate AI in their daily lives and how we can embrace our relationships with more-than-human worlds.
Curating events
And then I get to one of my favourite parts of the jobs. I take a look at the programme and see what topics are missing. To fill in the gaps, I then choose some of the biggest questions of our times, deep dive into the subject, look at it from all angles and create my dream line-up of speakers and performers who I think will approach these questions from interesting perspectives.
To highlight a few favourites:
On Saturday 19 September, there will be two panels in Mayflower Studios. Kicking off at 12:30pm, climate justice activists Dominique Palmer and Tori Tsui and music producer Werkha will explore how music can be a tool to bring people together to raise awareness of the climate crisis and catalyse collective action.
As we cool down from the hottest summer on record, I’m eager to hear from these pioneers during Music for Climate Action on how they’ve created climate conscious music festivals and musical installations that share stories of nature.
At 3pm on the same day, former Tik-Toker and BBC content producer Ella Hubber will chair a conversation about the impact that social media influencers have on the decisions we make about our health. Who’s Influencing Your Health? brings together formidable researchers, Rachael Kent and Cécile Simmons, with medical doctor and former Traitors contestant Kaz Ahmed, and sex educator and content creator Milly Evans.
I’m intrigued to hear how Milly and Kaz’s practical experiences of being online and creating content to share accurate information and dispel myths will build on Rachel and Cécile’s research into health misinformation, online subcultures and digital technology.
Another programme highlight for me is Spogomi, a competitive litter picking game hailing from Japan. The event combines environmental action with competitive spirit, to clean up Guildhall Square and surrounding parks. And a fun fact… I’m the current UK champion for Spogomi and ranked 13th in the world cup in Tokyo with my team Trash Talkers. Will you join the British Science Festival 2026 edition and be crowned Southampton’s best litter picker?
Science of Southampton
Taking a look across the whole Festival programme, I’m really pleased with the local feel that this Festival has. Around 50% of the Festival line up comes from people based in the Southampton region. It’s a real celebration of the scientists, the artists, the community leaders who call this city home and the amazing contributions they make to our understanding of the world.
Local artists will lead a creative workshop to help you notice nature around Southampton, New Forest National Park rangers will delve into the habitats of local migratory birds, and the University of Southampton’s Dame Wendy Hall will chat with the BBC’s Zoe Kleinman about how we can shape the future of AI.
As we gear up for the Festival, my role becomes more operational and I work the event organisers and venues to make sure that everything is ready and in place to welcome the public. With that in mind I better get back to it and deliver the Festival with my brilliant colleagues… see you in Southampton!
The British Science Festival takes place across Southampton from 16 – 20 September. All events are free and some require booking. You can see the full Festival line up and information about the events at www.britishsciencefestival.org