Bradford Science Festival Returns This October Half-Term

Bradford Science Festival, produced by the National Science and Media Museum, will return to venues across the city with an enhanced programme for Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture, across October half term (25 October – 2 November). This year’s theme, Future World, will transform venues across the city into zones exploring the future of technology, fashion, climate, sound and food.

The museum’s Future Tech zone will feature free activities and events for all ages, including A Frozen Night, Virtual Reality (VR) experience from UK Antarctic Heritage trust taking visitors on a journey to 1965 antarctica. Born in Bradford will also be hosting a hands-on adventure, inviting visitors to catch the mischievous villains hiding in Bradford’s air. Their groundbreaking research also underpins the festival’s headline exhibition, Living Dots: Nature, People and Place, opening on 24 October.

Created by award-winning data visualisation studio Tekja, Living Dots transforms data taken from Born in Bradford into an interactive journey, revealing how data can inform future thinking around people, communities and green spaces across the city. This data forms part of a 3D artwork, transformed into glowing data points representing real insights from the community, emphasising the collective power of this information. Visitors will also be invited to share their thoughts on wellbeing and green spaces, contributing to a living, evolving dataset. The patterns created by the dots aim to show the power of simple data to help us understand one another and make positive change in the future.

Other activities include an interactive drone challenge from Impact Gamers, laser maze and scientist dress up with TerzHertz Communications and hands on AI sessions with experts from Raspberry Pi. The University of Bradford will also be inviting visitors to discover more about the science behind human anatomy and facial recognition through hands-on activities and demonstrations.

The museum will also be hosting two events aimed at adults, including a free talk hosted by former AI adviser to the Prime Minister and Chair of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) Matt Clifford. AI and the Future of Science: How Machines Will Change Everything will explore how artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of discovery as well as the opportunities (and risks) it creates for society. There will also be a festival edition of the museum’s Café Scientifique event series, discussing the science of flavour psychology.

Pictureville Cinema will complement the adult programme with a curated documentary series, including Lost for Words (2025), a poetic response to the disappearance of nature-related words from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, Fashion Reimagined (2002), which follows Amy Powney of luxury UK fashion company Mother of Pearl as she attempts to create an entirely sustainable collection, and The Thinking Game (2024), chronicling visionary scientist Demis Hassabis’ relentless pursuit to crack artificial general intelligence.

For younger audiences, Pictureville will extend its popular Kids Club screenings for the half-term holiday, with family favourites including Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Robots (2005), Megamind (2010) and Monsters VS. Aliens (2009), each available for just £3.

Pictureville will also host Robo Bingo, an interactive, smartphone-powered comedy show from Lloyd and Pete of Foxdog Studios and their robotic bingo mascot, Mr Bing. Following a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe and an award-winning run in Adelaide, this special Bradford edition will feature an exclusive picture bingo round celebrating famous faces and places from across the city.

Elsewhere, Darley Street Market becomes home to the Future Food zone, inviting festival-goers to explore the food of tomorrow through hands on workshops, demonstrations and games. Focusing on innovations on sustainable ingredients and cooking that has the power to transform the way we eat for years to come, activities include an Explosive Food science show with Royal Institution, rice-popping demonstrations from the University of Nottingham’s Food and Biomaterials research group.

Microbiologists and skin biologists from the University of Bradford will also be exploring the connections between gut, skin and health, showing microbes in action, as well as an interactive stall exploring the science of mouthfeel from the University of Leeds, including a curling-inspired board game.

At The Broadway shopping centre, the Future Fashion zone will feature workshops with the Natural History Museum and the fast-fashion themed videogame My Favourite T-Shirt, created by the University of Manchester’s NOVARS research centre. Jeremy Hutchison’s live art piece Dead White Man will highlight the global impact of textile waste and invite participants to create miniature recycled-clothes “zombies.” The museum’s Young People’s Panel, formed for the festival, will also take centre stage, presenting a sustainable fashion catwalk in collaboration with local designers and industry partners on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 October.

The Future Climate zone at Thornbury Centre will invite festivalgoers to take part in climate action activities including making seagrass seed bags with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to be planted in the Humber Estuary, baking their own bog with Yorkshire Peat Partnership, and playing a bespoke community climate game co-created with BD3 residents and Impact Gamers.  Visitors will also be invited to take part in an urban discovery walk with Active Travel.