The British Science Festival 2026 is now even bigger, with the addition of seven exciting new events to the packed programme. 

New events at this year’s Festival engage with subjects as diverse as online influencer culture, vaccinations, climate change, the unconscious mind, maps, and the mighty chickpea. 

Organised by the British Science Association and hosted by the University of Southampton, this year’s Festival runs from 16 – 20 September at venues across the University’s Highfield campus and Southampton city centre. 

The newly announced events will run at Mayflower Studios, the University’s Centenary Building, and other Festival venues around Guildhall Square. 

At Who’s influencing your health? (Mayflower Studios), join doctor and former Traitors contestant Kasim Ahmed, sex and relationship educator Milly Evans, researcher and podcast host Rachael Kent and investigative researcher in online harms Cécile Simmons  to explore how social media helps and harms our health. How can we distinguish between fact and fad and what can be done to stop influencers from hijacking our health? 

As health misinformation continues to spread across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, a growing number of healthcare professionals are using social media to challenge false claims and provide evidence-based advice. But what are social media platforms doing to stop harmful content from spreading? 

Also at Mayflower Studios, join science communicator Zion Lights, climate justice activist and writer and ambassador for Climate Live, Dominique Palmer, and climate justice campaigner Tori Tsui at Music for climate action. With musicians and music industry leaders, they’ll be exploring the power of live music to mobilise audiences, build communities and drive climate action.   

As the climate crisis accelerates, musicians, activists and industry leaders are increasingly harnessing the power of music to bring people together to share stories of nature, to raise awareness of the climate crisis and to catalyse collective action. Explore how music, whether grassroots protest song or global anthem, has shaped culture and inspired social change.  

If you created a representation of your own mind with origami, what would it look like? Bringing art and maths together, Collective unconscious is a hands-on activity utilising the creativity of paper folding to explore the unconscious mind.  

Guided by artist Elyzia Pyrite and Southampton’s ZEST Collective, explore the unconscious mind as a collective of natural human experience and immerse yourself in the art of mathematics as you work with paper to co-create a large sculpture that continues to grow and change throughout the day. 

Chickpeas may seem like a simple legume, but even the smallest plants can have big impacts. For Chickpeas, culture and cuisine, join researchers from the University of Southampton’s School of Biological Sciences to cook up a storm in celebration of the chickpea and discover how small food choices can spark big, sustainable change.  

Watch a chef make tempting chickpea dishes, then taste your way through global and local flavours. Take home tasty recipes and eco-tips to share with your friends and family, after exploring how one simple ingredient can impact us, our societies, and our planet. 

Ordnance Survey is Great Britain’s national mapping service, providing the trusted location data that underpins everyday life, helping people and organisations make better decisions, from planning and building new homes, keeping transport running smoothly, and making sure essential services like water and energy are in the right place. 

At How we map Great Britain see how modern mapping works in practice. Get hands on with real surveying equipment, discover how drones capture detail at scale and learn how surveyors map the nation with precision helping people find their way and supporting services when it matters most.

Just as clothing protects us from the outside world, so vaccinations create a layer of protection from infection. Created by artist Luke Jerram, in collaboration with Chrissie Jones (Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton), Clothed with protection catwalk is a catwalk showcasing the talents of 10 Ugandan fashion designers.  

Each item of clothing was made to promote the benefits of vaccination in pregnant women across Africa, and highlight that vaccinations protect both mother and baby.  

Finally, the Association of British Science Writers will be holding an event at this year’s Festival. Truth, Trust and TikTok: Navigating Science Media in the Digital Age is a panel discussion between Andy Extance, freelance science journalist and University of Southampton alumnus, and Deborah Cohen, former BBC Radio Science Unit Editor.  

Explore how science journalists and communicators are adapting to a new media landscape and creating high-quality, trusted content. Via social media, listening to a podcast or reading the news, science reaches us through more channels than ever before. But with so much information competing for our attention, how do we decide what to trust? 

The full British Science Festival programme of more than 80 talks, workshops, performances, installations and more is available at www.britishsciencefestival.org/events  

All tickets FREE and available to book now, unless indicated as a ‘drop-in’.