The Best of Norwich Science Festival 2023

And that's a wrap!

We'd like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone that visited, contributed to, worked and volunteered at this year's Norwich Science Festival! With over 100 sold out shows, workshops and talks, it was certainly a busy one and it was fantastic to see so many of you at The Forum and at our other city venues.

Let us know what you enjoyed most about Norwich Science Festival 2023 by filling in our survey.

Thank you so much for all of your support and we're already looking forward to seeing what NSF 2024 has in store!

A massive thank you also to all of our wonderful sponsors - we couldn't have done it without you.

Norwich Science Festival 2023 has been a blast! Here's a look back at some of the highlights - although it's very hard to choose!

The Explorium

Each day of the festival, the atrium and marquee at The Forum was transformed into the Explorium - a hive of free stands and activities for all to get involved and discover some extraordinary science!

With a new theme every day, there was always something new to discover - from rare breed lambs and robotic hungry hippos, to spectacular creepy crawlies and decoding Darwin's Tree of Life with the Earlham Institute!

Extraordinary Extinct™ Dinosaur Trail

As part of this year's festival, we partnered with Dodo and Dinosaur® to bring an exciting dinosaur adventure to Chantry Place!

Hundreds of families collected their maps and followed the trail to discover fascinating facts about dinosaurs in order to earn their explorer sticker and be entered into our prize draw! With over 900 entrants, the dinosaur trail was an extRAWRdinary success!

The Biggest Science Quiz Show Ever

Hosted by two of our fabulous patrons, evolutionary biologist Professor Ben Garrod and BBC astronomer, Mark Thompson, the Biggest Science Quiz Show Ever was a firm favourite this year.

With fascinating science facts, hilarious stories from the field and some mind-blowing experiments, it really was the BIGGEST science quiz show ever!

Wim Hoff Fundamentals Workshop

On the final Saturday of the festival, eleven fearless participants took part in a morning of workshops to learn the ins and outs of the Wim Hoff Method. Having mastered the techniques, they then bravely submerged themselves in an ice bath in front of an impressed crowd outside The Forum!

Lessons in Chemistry

We were incredibly lucky to have the wonderful Bonnie Garmus, author of bestselling novel 'Lessons in Chemistry', in conversation with Naomi Woods as one of our headline events this year!

Bonnie delved into the thinking behind her book and the creation of the extraordinary character Elizabeth Zott, completely immersing the audience before answering many of their eager questions at the end.

Boogie on The Brain!

Dr Peter Lovatt gave us a Valentine's Day to remember at this year's festival with a night filled with laughter, dancing and, of course, science!

Through teaching the audience a series of short dance routines, we discovered the fascinating psychology behind our love of grooving, and had a whole lot of fun along the way!

Science Satellites

Our Satellite events at Gresham's School in Holt and East Norfolk Sixth Form College in Gorleston this year were a huge success! With stomp rockets, robots, bath bombs and much more, there was something for all the family to get involved.

At Gresham's, the fantastic Dr Jess French brought along some creepy crawly friends for her 'Minibeast Adventure', while at East Norfolk Sixthform College, Professor Ben Garrod gave us a fascinating insight into his wild world of 'Chasing Chimps and Discovering Dinosaurs' as an evolutionary biologist and conservationist!

Vertical Farm - John Innes Centre

The John Innes Centre brought along their extraordinary Vertical Farm to this year's festival; displayed in the Gallery throughout the week, visitors could learn all about the future of vertical farming and aeroponics, and even take part in taste-testing to spot the difference between vertically grown and traditional farm grown foods!

Planetarium

The Explorer Dome Planetarium offered three fantastic shows as part of NSF 2023, exploring the wonders of space, light and the Earth! Taking place at Norwich school, the mesmerising visuals and engaging talks by their passionate hosts created a magical experience for all who visited!