Festival goers are being urged to snap up tickets for talks and debates at the Great Exhibition Road Festival in just three weeks’ time.

The festival includes a special eclectic Art of Science series in which visitors can discover how science can be artistic and how art can be scientific, including a look at the similarities and differences between the two worlds.  

The line-up brings together Lord Robert Winston and the Royal College Music Director Stephen Johns to discuss what music tells us about our brain, and features planetary scientists and composers come together to a reimagining of Holst’s Planets.

Visitors can find out why we eat what we eat or what the clothes or cities of tomorrow will be like from panels of experts at the Ideas Exchange series.

Speakers including Dr Jess Wade and Dr Audrey de Nazelle will join designers, artists, campaigners and economists on contemporary issues, and how art, design and science can tackle problems together.

Head of public engagement Vicky Brightman said: “The really special thing about this year’s Festival is that we are bringing together all the amazing art and science that goes on in this area and seeing how different experts work together.

“After months of planning its fantastic to see these panels showing off real cross-disciplinary thinking – I can’t wait to hear the talks and discussions.”

Asteroids and air pollution: More talks

If pure science is more your thing then the Spotlight on science series should hit the mark.  Each scientist has 30 minutes to tell their story on topics ranging from the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, to environmental issues like air pollution.

Other talks now available to book include:

• Engaging UK BAME Communities in Climate Change Action - Painter, poet and environmentalist, Judy Ling Wong OBE discusses how we motivate diverse communities in the green agenda by integrating the impact of climate change here and in their countries of origin.
• Great expeditions - Hear personal stories of adventure and discovery from across the globe from people working here in South Kensington. This includes journeys back through history, as well as chances to find out about the global impact the institutions on Exhibition Road have, and the realities of working in some exotic environments.

Explore the future of 5G

Visitors will also have the chance to find out more about 5G communication through global telecoms firm Huawei, who will be unveiling new 5G technology for the first time at the Festival. Huawei is a long term corporate partner of the College and one of the Festival’s sponsors this year.

Julian Sikondari, Director of Industry Partnerships and Commercialisation at the Business School, said: “Huawei are a longstanding and trusted research partner to the College and it is great to see them at the Festival. We continue to benefit from working with Huawei across multiple disciplines to further the impact of our research and their festival contribution represents this kind of impact very well.”

Huawei’s 5G consumer experience will house five separate demo zones and feature  3D TV screens, 360 degree live-streaming, 5G enabled gaming, VR and PC cloud services. Huawei’s 5G experience will be unveiled at the Great Exhibition Road Festival before heading off to Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Edinburgh Fringe.

Huawei UK CEO Jerry Wang said: “The Huawei 5G Truck is a great way to showcase real-time consumer benefits of 5G technology. We are entering an era where large-scale UK deployment of 5G technology is becoming a reality and we are pleased to be at the Great Exhibition Road Festival to give festival goers a glimpse of tomorrow… today.”