The University of Strathclyde will take part in more than 20 events at Glasgow Science Festival 2026, bringing hands-on activities, demonstrations and workshops to venues across the city from 4-14 June.
Festival-goers will have the opportunity to race a robot through a maze, challenge an atomic clock to a drumming contest, build their own microscope and check the accuracy of an AI journalist.
The University itself will be hosting several events, including showcase days for the Department of Physics and Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences.
Festival features
There will also be returns for two long-running, Strathclyde-led features of the Festival: Science on the Streets, tours of Glasgow’s scientific landmarks led by Dr Carol Trager-Cowan, and Really Small Science, an outreach programme led by the Department of Chemical & Process Engineering.
Strathclyde’s programme also includes a wide range of events for families, schools and adults, exploring everything from sustainability and language to sound, lasers and radiotherapy.
• Living in a Noisy World, which will explore the effects of acoustic pollution on nature
• Engineering a Sustainable Future, where visitors will have the chance to create their own nanopolymer ball and win prizes in a recycling challenge
• Sowing Seeds of Languages, which offers the opportunity to make a bird from natural and recycled materials and take it on a journey to gather languages;
• Light in Daily Life, where researchers will demonstrate biophotonic diagnostic tools by lighting up blood vessels with LEDs
• Can You Spot the Bot?, a challenge to tell real sounds and pictures from those generated by AI
• Laser-focused on Science for Radiotherapy, where lasers will burst balloons and participants will go on a journey to feel like an accelerating particle
• Designing Glasgow's Heritage Chatbots, where visitors can create their own bots to tell the stories found in museums and archives.
All events are free to attend. Booking is required for school parties and for: Science on the Streets; Engineering a Sustainable Future (13 June only) and Trust Me, I’m an AI.
Glasgow Science Festival founder and director Dr Deborah McNeill said: “We’re thrilled to be celebrating our 20th anniversary this year with what we think is our biggest and best programme of events yet.
It’s remarkable to reflect on how far we’ve come since the start of the Festival, reaching more than a million visitors at in-person and online events. Everything we’ve achieved so far is thanks to the enthusiasm and commitment of the city’s science community and our wider partner network.
Since the first Glasgow Science Festival in 2007, organisers estimate that more than 860,000 visitors have attended events and more than 200,000 school pupils have taken part in outreach activities.