We're the UK’s most popular science festival!

Manchester has UK’s most popular science festival

Over 100,000 people flocked to the 2009 Manchester Science Festival (MSF) – making it the most popular event of its type in the UK.

The Festival, which took place in October, was a week-long celebration and exploration of science, technology, engineering and maths.

Packed with over 150 events taking place across Greater Manchester, the Festival focused on the relevance of science to our everyday lives, its history and the work taking place in the region today.

Only launched in 2007, MSF is one of the UK’s newest and freshest science festivals – and last year’s event saw attendance increase by a massive 56 per cent from 65,691 in 2008 to 102,288.

Visitors came from the region, the UK and overseas to enjoy a total of 317 events, exhibitions, school workshops and community projects created by 57 organisations.

Events were held in 48 public, cultural, community, academic, educational, social, indoors and outdoors locations.
In total, 43,112 people attended events, 58,374 visited exhibitions and 802 took part in the schools programme.
The majority of events were free and a number were fully booked, including;

Dr Bunhead's crash test jelly babies - Manchester Central
The Luck Factor with Richard Wiseman - MOSI
Nick Arnold : The Horrible Science Show – Zion Arts Centre
Childhood obesity debate – John Rylands Library
Geek girl dinner - Sweet Mandarin restaurant
Human evolution talk by Steve Jones – Bolton Museum
Blood, vampires and science debate and film – Cornerhouse
Robot hack day – MadLab

Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson said: “Science festivals like Manchester's are fantastic at putting science in front of the widest possible audience. They convey the wonder and importance of science and engineering to people at all ages.”

Natalie Ireland, Festival Director, said: “Manchester is a great science city, boasting legendary figures like Rutherford and Turing, so it’s only right that it has a great science festival for everyone to enjoy and participate in.

“We’re absolutely thrilled with the attendance figures and it’s a great credit to everyone involved in the Festival, many of whom gave up hours of their time to help run events.

“Huge thanks must also go to our partner organisations and our funders, whose support allowed us to run a very successful and enjoyable week of events.

“We’re certainly not resting on our laurels and we are already busy planning our programme for Manchester Science Festival 2010, which promises to be bigger and better than ever.

“We’re always keen to get feedback and improve what we offer, and I would encourage anyone with ideas and suggestions for future Festivals to get in touch.”

The 2009 Festival was supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), MOSI and Siemens.

George Baxter, Director of Science and Innovation at the NWDA, said: “Science and innovation are at the heart of the NWDA’s vision to build and sustain a knowledge based economy in the Northwest. Encouraging young people to take up science at further and higher education level is vital to this, and as last year’s visitor figures show, the Manchester Science Festival is proving an enormous success in engaging young people with science. The Agency was pleased to provide its support to the event, which we hope will help to inspire the next generation of budding scientists.”

Manchester Science Festival 2010 will take place from Saturday 23 to Sunday 31 October.


Notes to editors

Festival Director Natalie Ireland is available for further comment on 0161 606 0129.

Photographs from the 2009 Festival are available on request. For more information please contact Alex Waddington, Media Relations Officer, 0161 275 8387 or 07717 881569.

UK Schools Computer Animation Competition 2009 - now open!

Now open! The UK Schools Computer Animation Competition 2009

The competition is open to all UK schoolchildren aged between 7 and 19. The deadline for entering is Friday 1 May 2009. For full details, and to register your school's interest, please visit the Animation09 website. Register now, with no obligation, and keep in the picture!

About the competition

The School of Computer Science at The University of Manchester is running the second annual UK Schools Computer Animation Competition, in association with Electronic Arts and the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

For the 2009 competition, entrants can create their animations (maximum duration: 1 minute) using any of the following programs: Alice, Scratch, or Flash. There are some great prizes, and the Animation Festival and Awards Ceremony will be held at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

The inaugural 2008 competition attracted over 230 entries from 55 schools, with over 400 children attending the Film Show and Awards Ceremony day at The University of Manchester. Visit the 2008 Winners Gallery.

Key dates
19 January 2009: Competition launch, and the website opens for registration.
1 May 2009: Deadline for submitting entries.
22 May 2009: Shortlisted winners notified.
26 June 2009: Film Show and Awards Ceremony day at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

Key contacts
Animation09 website
Enquiries: Animation09@cs.man.ac.uk

Clip from Friday's BBC NW Tonight

Spring forward, fall back...

That's right - it's that weekend again, when the clocks go back for the end of British Summer Time.

Good way to remember if it's forward or back? "Spring forward, fall back" (ok it's a bit American... but it works!)

The change happens on Saturday night/ Sunday morning so don't forget - or you'll be an hour early for everything on Sunday!

The smell of space?

BBC NW Tonight caught up with our festival education programme schools tour today to find out about research into the smell of space.

Watch it here!

Making Sense of Radiation

You may have seen an article in the Daily Mail, the Guardian online or heard it on the radio 4 Today programme this morning talking about a new guide to Making Sense of Radiation. The guide was produced by Sense about Science, a national charity dedicated to debunking myths of science.

The report (available here) is written by leading scientists, engineers and medical professionals and helps people to question things they’ve heard or read about radiation. It contains information showing that products on the market which claim to protect people from radiation exploit unfounded fears and generally don't do what they claim! The report also explains current evidence which shows that wi-fi, mobiles phones and masts have not been shown to have harmful effects.

Sense about Science have also got a range of other reports out and their website has some really useful information on recent reports and stories that have been picked up in the media. Recent project include work on detox products, science for celebrities, GM foods and stem cell research.

LHC update

We mentioned a few weeks ago that the Large Hadron Collider was about to start work. You'll have noticed that we're all still here and the world didn't end! After a great start and almost to good to be true first few days, a technical failure on September 19th has meant that repairs are needed to some large sections of the ring.

These repairs are causing a delay and the LHC have recently announced that the collider will not be restarted until next spring!

To keep up to date with all the latest information, catching up with the scientific questions and even have a go at running your own collider go to the LHC website

The BA Festival of Science Liverpool, 6-11 September 2008

The BA Festival of Science is coming to Liverpool from 6-11 September, bringing over 350 of the UK’s top scientists and engineers to discuss the latest developments in science with the public. There are around 150 events to chose from, taking place across Liverpool and beyond.

From the latest research news and debates about the most topical and challenging issues of our time, to science musicals, exhibitions and hands-on entertainment, the Festival provides an opportunity to meet and talk with many stimulating and entertaining scientists, journalists, authors and artists.

To kick it all off, we have our family weekend ‘Science Explosion at the World Museum’ to be opened by TV personality Adam Hart-Davis with hands- on fun and activities for all.
Ever wanted to run faster than a speeding bullet, curious if robots have feelings of their own or know how txt messages can solve crimes? Come along and find out the answers to such questions as well as getting involved in exhibitions and performances in and around Liverpool helping to stimulate your minds and be excited by science.

There is also the chance to discuss current hot topics, enjoy some unique street theatre from the Science Butlers, find out about the science of superheroes, use poetry to communicate the impact of climate change on biodiversity, and join best-selling crime authors and top forensic experts to discover the science behind the stories.

Learn all about the science of sport and how to bend it like Beckham, join us in debate about the use of technology in sport and whether it is starting to outweigh natural talent. Discover if life is really out there, go on the search for extraterrestrial life, or find out what role science has to play in culture. All this and much, much more…

This is just a handful of the 150 events happening this September. With events ranging from topics on astronomy, to the food we eat to events on science and culture the BA festival of science is a must for all giving you the opportunity to question top scientists, and find how science can make a difference to your lives.

For more information please visit www.the-ba.net/festivalofscience or ring 020 7019 4947. Pick and book your events, and be prepared to be entertained, intrigued and amazed by science. We hope to see you there…

Find us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6254449274 or join our blog: http://bafestivalofscience.blogspot.com/

Maths made interesting...

Not my phrase btw! Radio4's Today programme had this on yesterday:-

Maths has long been associated with difficult school lessons and dreary household calculations, but for Rob Eastaway, author of How Many Socks Make a Pair, this does not have to be the case. See if you can answer his surprisingly interesting maths puzzles.

Science GCSE

So it's not a festival but it's an issue that comes up a lot when we're talking about science learning. Should students who do well in science at 14 have the right to take GCSEs in three separate science subjects? Should we make all students study "science" GCSE which includes parts of Physics, Chemistry and Biology or is a new award which focuses on the scientific method what we need to create a scientifically literate society?

The CBI thinks that all pupils who do well in their Science SAT at 14 should be offered the chance to study three separate sciences at GCSE (read the article here). I think this is a great idea, but I'm not sure how they're going to get enough specialist teachers or make schools change their timetables to fit in more science lessons.

"Celebrating Science as Culture"

This Science article captures some of what we're trying to do in our own humble way here in Manchester. OK, so we're not the World Science Festival, with their scale, ticket prices or Disney Imagineers (!), but we are at least trying to do the same thing - get science put alongside the rest of popular culture to allow people to interact and be inspired.

The other good thing to note is that even Lawrence Krauss struggles with my ever-burning question - it might all be good fun, but where's the science?