Since 2018, for two days in the autumn, FUTURES: A Festival of Discovery has been an opportunity for people to discover more about the research that is shaping our future with researchers from the region’s universities. FUTURES Festival received funding from the European Commission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions as part of European Researchers' Night (2018-2021) and UK Research and Innovation as part of the Horizon Europe Guarantee (2022 - 2025).

Our approach

FUTURES: A Festival of Discovery is a public engagement collaboration between the University of Bath, Bath Spa University, University of Bristol, University of Exeter and University of Plymouth.

Originating as part of European Researchers' Night, FUTURES Festival continues today to display the diversity of science and its impact on citizens' daily lives in fun, inspiring ways and takes place annually over the last weekend in September.

Each partner in the consortium collaborates with cultural institutions and creative practitioners to develop engagement activities for researchers to engage people in their city and region.

FUTURES Festival aims to:

• help researchers develop their public engagement skills and expertise

• build on the rich legacy of innovation and cultural heritage in the South West region to showcase current research and the advances brought about by the universities

• create opportunities for public groups to engage with research

• facilitate greater interaction amongst different areas of research and break down disciplinary barriers

What we did

FUTURES Festival takes research directly to the people. Researchers have been heading out across five counties of the South West into shopping centres, botanic gardens, museums, cathedrals, naval vessels, and the streets to share their work and develop their skills and expertise in public engagement.

Programme of events

The FUTURES Festival team of public engagement professionals from across the consortium have been working with researchers and partner organisations such as museums, libraries, sports centres and cultural venues to develop engagement activities.

Since 2018, the team have been pushing the boundaries of programming for public engagement with research, producing a range of experimental and innovative activity formats online and in-person. These have included participatory workshops, hands-on experiments, theatre performances, community radio, science shows, games, quizzes, talks, competitions, and exhibitions.

These engagement activities have been opportunities for researchers to develop their and expertise in engaging public groups with their research and public engagement skills.

Between 2018 and 2023, 296,328 people participated in 174 FUTURES in-person and online activities, meeting over 1,761 researchers exploring diverse research topics including medieval manuscripts, artificial intelligence, climate change, microbial resistance and much more.

Find out more about the previous editions of FUTURES Festival:

FUTURES 2023

FUTURES 2022

FUTURES 2021

FUTURES 2020

Training programme for researchers

Working with researchers we created a programme of training and professional development opportunities to build their skills and expertise in public engagement with research. This involved:

• co-produced and delivered workshops and masterclasses on science comedy, storytelling, science busking, presentation skills and social media with professional trainers

• paired researchers with experience cultural programme producers and creative professionals to develop engagement activities

FUTURES Festival reports

Detailed descriptions of the work to develop and deliver the FUTURES Festival each year can be found in the reports for the European Commission. These reports cover details and outcomes of the awareness-raising campaign, descriptions of the activities that took place and an evaluation and impact assessment of each edition of the FUTURES Festival.

• FUTURES 2023 reports

• FUTURES 2022 reports

• FUTURES 2021 reports

• FUTURES 2020 reports

• FUTURES 2019 reports

• FUTURES 2018 reports