The Cambridge Festival is always an exciting two weeks of events, and this year was no exception. Across the School of Biological Sciences, researchers, PhD students, technicians and professional services staff came together to create, host and engage the public in a wide range of activities, from talks and panel discussions to hands-on experiments, and exhibitions.
With over 40 activities hosted throughout the Festival, Departments and Institutes showcased our world-leading research to audiences of all ages. Covering themes such as genetics, infection and pathogens, health and ageing, the Festival also served as a valuable opportunity for researchers to engage with the community, fostering meaningful conversations and insights.
Family Day activities
A highlight of the Festival for the School of Biological Sciences was the Family Day on Saturday 29th March in the Department of Pathology. With over 650 visitors, families and adults were invited to engage with research through a variety of games and activities, including extracting DNA from strawberries, completing a microbe clue hunt, and growing their own protein crystals.
Ritwick Sawarkar from the Department of Genetics said:
“Engaging with the public during the Cambridge Festival was an incredibly rewarding and fun experience. It was inspiring to see such curiosity and enthusiasm from children and adults alike, and the conversations we had offered fresh perspectives that continue to share the way we think about our research.”
In the Department of Psychology, activities included an original and interactive investigation trail, hands on experiments exploring the heritability of family traits, and an engaging exhibition on the psychology of starting school. A baby feeding room provided a quiet space for families, complete with activities for older siblings and changing facilities. Additionally, a series of insightful and engaging talks covered a diverse range of topics, including mental time travel, empathy in rats, visual illusions, starting school, dyslexia, and newborn language.
Evening Talks
Led by experts on topics ranging from vaccines and climate change to early human development, and healthy ageing, the evening talks are some the Festival’s most popular and well-attended events.
As part of our focus on ‘Biology of Ageing’ research, Dr Alex Cagan presented a flagship seminar on ‘The Impossibility of Whales: somatic evolution across the tree of life’, exploring how somatic mutations accumulate in cells throughout life and can contribute to ageing. Held at the Cambridge Union Society, the event welcomed over 200 attendees and offered the public a chance to contribute feedback on the future direction of research into healthy ageing.
Schools Day
On 25 and 26 March, the Department of Veterinary Medicine hosted two days of school visits, engaging pupils of all ages with interactive sessions on X-rays, horse health, and what it’s like to study veterinary medicine at Cambridge - offering a unique and inspiring glimpse into the world of animal care and science.