Imperial Festival will broadcast a showcase of inspirational talks and behind-the-scenes insights this weekend (28-29 April).

The College’s annual celebration of science, engineering and creativity will comprise a vibrant array of exhibits, hands-on demonstrations and workshops running alongside a packed talks programme and a series of artistic performances and exhibitions. 

The 2018 Imperial Festival is set to once again draw thousands to its South Kensington Campus, but for those not able to attend in person, there are many opportunities to follow the action through Imperial’s live-streaming platforms.

A series of inspirational talks delivered by experts in the fields of astrophysics, climate change, robotics, psychedelics and more will be broadcast live across the College’s YouTube channel.

Meanwhile Imperial’s roving reporters will be out and about at the Festival meeting researchers, capturing the atmosphere, and broadcasting live from the College’s Facebook channel on Saturday.

Here’s the full schedule of live broadcasts across the Imperial Festival weekend.

Spotlight Talks

(Times stated in BST)

Talks on Saturday (28 April)

• 12:30 – Flesh and Blood. Join Doctor Turner from the BBC hit-drama Call the Midwife – actor Stephen McGann (pictured above) – for a lively discussion about the medical maladies that have shaped his life and that of his ancestors. Expect puss, pox and pestilence!
• 13:30 – Psychedelic Drugs in Science and Medicine. Take a trip through new research showing that magic mushrooms may 'reset' the minds of depressed patients leading to reduced symptoms. With Robin Carhart-Harris, Head of Psychedelic Research
• 14:30 – London's Polluted Air: An Opportunity in the Mist. Find out why a more holistic approach to reducing air pollution could reclaim our streets as places to live, explore, interact, discover and play.
• 15:30 – Science of Star Trek. From cloaking devices to alien civilizations, from warp drives to transporters, find out from astrophysicist Roberto Trotta how sci-fi has boldly gone where no scientist has gone before – yet.
• 16:30 – The Science of Fire. Join our Fire Scientist, Guillermo Rein (pictured), to explore how fires start, spread and destroy

Talks on Sunday (29 April)

• 12:30 – Saturn: What Cassini Taught Us. Following the Cassini spacecraft’s final dive into the gas giant, reflect on one of the great space missions of all time and how we can hope to follow it up. With Mission Scientist Michele Dougherty
• 13:30 – Trustworthy Robots. Robotic surgeons. An AI babysitter. Thrishantha Nanayakkara asks if we could ever trust robots with the things we care about most – our lives and our families?
• 14:30 – Sensing Mars. Find out how listening to Martian tremors could help us understand Mars’ past habitability for life, and why our solar system neighbour turned out so different to Earth. With NASA mission scientist Tom Pike
• 15:30 – What's changing our climate? A temperamental Sun and the Earth’s wobbly journey around it, violent volcanoes, melting ice caps, cow farts, car engines and Donald Trump. Jo Haigh discusses the likely candidates

Facebook Live

In addition to the talks over the course of the weekend, Saturday will see two live streams on the College’s Facebook channel:

• 12:45 – Aero Zone live: Our Aeronautics department celebrates its centenary this year. To mark the occasion, they are bringing together a showcase of its most current and exciting innovations.
• 15:00 – Enginuity Zone live: Meet some of the brightest engineering minds in this new zone created to celebrate the 2018 Year of Engineering.

Weekend of discovery

Imperial Festival runs 12:00-18:00 on Saturday 28, 12:00-17:00 on Sunday 29 April. The free public festival will be held on Imperial’s South Kensington Campus, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2AZ. To attend please register in advance.