Events in the past 12 months

Here are some of the events that we’ve taken part in over the last 12 months.

Read more about the public engagement activities we launched and took part in last year in our review blog: A year of connection: Public engagement in health and life sciences.

Some of these are annual events so please be sure to check out our event profile page or follow us on social media for the most up to date information about what’s in store:

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Meet the Scientists: Saturday 7 March 2026

We celebrated British Science Week by bringing our research to life for local children and families through hands-on activities, experiments, and interactive fun at World Museum!

Here is a taste of the exciting activities on the day:

Lava Palaver! - What makes volcanoes erupt? Bubbles! Our researchers demonstrated how different lavas have different kinds of bubbles and how those bubbles decide whether a volcano gently floooooows or EXPLODES!

Menacing Microbes and Magnificent Medicines – Why do germs make some people sick but not others? Aspiring scientists and their adults explored how medicines work, became a lab scientist, and found out how fast they could blow the air out of their lungs!

Birds Just Wanna Have Sun – Many birds travel thousands of miles every year, Visitors learned why, as well as fun bird facts and enjoy games, joined in with a scavenger hunt, and colouring their own bird postcard.

Meet the Scientists is open to all University staff and postgraduate students (PG level and above) from across the University. No previous public engagement experience is needed—we’ll support you every step of the way, from shaping your idea to on the day logistics.

Meet the Scientist at Eureka Science + Discovery: 29 November 2025

Science came alive at Eureka Science + Discovery this November! Families joined scientists from the University of Liverpool for a day full to the brim with excellent experiments and creative crafts, interactive activities and learning more about the exciting innovations happening in our region! Activities included:

How well do you know your body clock?
Visitors discovered whether they were a morning person or a night owl and learned how our body clocks work to keep us healthy!

Unravelling the secrets of our DNA
DNA is a special code that makes all living things unique. Visitors made their own DNA sequence bracelet to take home – choosing a DNA sequence from humans, butterflies, snakes or making their own unique sequence!

What the phage?!
Diving into the microscopic world of phage using games and virtual reality to discover what phage are and how they might help us!

Meet the Scientists 10th Anniversary: Saturday 18 October 2025

The University of Liverpool, in partnership with National Museums Liverpool, celebrated a decade of its popular ‘Meet the Scientists’ public engagement programme with a special event this weekend.

‘Meet the Scientists 10 Year Extravaganza’ took place on Saturday 18 October, from 10am to 4pm at the World Museum. For the first time, activities were held at the Walker Art Gallery and Liverpool’s Central Library, a new venue for the programme, making this the largest event in its history.

Since 2015, ‘Meet the Scientists’ has engaged over 27,000 visitors through 27 events and nearly 200 hands-on activities, creative crafts, experiments, and live demonstrations delivered by researchers, students, and staff volunteers passionate about sharing science. Read more about this popular event.

Celebrating Nature at Ness: Wednesday 13 August 2025

Research scientists presented lunchtime talks for visitors aged 12+ as part of Ness Gardens Celebrating Nature Day

This event also took place later in the year on Monday 27 October 2025. More information about our last instalment of Discover Nature can be found on our blog.

Discover and Celebrate Nature @ Ness

Every Tuesday last August, children and their families joined scientists and vets from the University of Liverpool to discover more about the amazing natural world. In these free public talks, visitors explored a different fascinating topic this week, from creatures of the garden down to the tiny world of insects!

Talks were free to attend and open to every aged 12+ and their families - no background in science needed! Find out what our visitors thought in our blog.

Toddler Science Club brings research to life

This Spring, younger children from across the region had their first taste of scientific discovery as we partnered with Everton in the Community for this exciting new initiative. Children from 3- 5 years explored a range of scientific themes from nature, ecology and medicine. The sessions, held through March and April incorporated messy play, storytelling, crafts and songs to encourage an early curiosity in science. Read more about this exciting community event.

Cheltenham Science Festival

Last June, more than 60,000 visitors from primary school age+ descended on last years; Cheltenham Science Festival for its annual celebration of science and our researchers were there to share their research in the Festival's Interactive Zone.

An online game where visitors were invited to take on the role of a doctor and to decide whether a drug was safe to prescribe was just one of the activities used to engage with children, making science fun and relating it to the real world. Read more about this exciting day.

All Eyes On You

Last May patients and staff from the Royal Liverpool University Hospital were invited to dropped by to listen to talks and to chat to our scientists and researchers from the Department of Eye and Vision Science about the latest developments in eye research including digital platforms to help improve the treatment and prevention of eye disease in the local community. Read more about this awareness raising event.

Pint of Science

Held every Spring at iconic pubs around the City Centre and on the Wirral, scientists share their research for an annual three-day festival known as the Pint of Science - a global event that takes place simultaneously in hundreds of cities around the world.

The event is designed to encourage everyone to engage with science outside traditional academic spaces with each night providing a unique line up of talks, demonstrations and live experiments held in a relaxed and informal environment. Read more from one of our speakers at the festival.

FameLab NorthWest Regional Final

FameLab is the largest science communication competition in the world, and the North West final came to Liverpool where Scientists battled it out to impress the judges and the audience to share their work in just three minutes with only the use of a single prop.

Bethany Facer from the University of Liverpool won the regional final. Read all about Bethany's experience at FameLab.