Here's how to get involved with the 2025 Great Exhibition Road Festival

A researcher at the 2024 Great Exhibition Road Festival sharing their work with the public.

Mark your calendars, the Great Exhibition Road Festival returns next June! Help us to serve up a sensational celebration of science and art.

2024’s Great Exhibition Road Festival welcomed over 50,000 visitors to South Kensington to enjoy a diverse programme of imaginative workshops, live experiments, innovative hands-on demonstrations, and artistic performances.

But we want next year’s to be even bigger and better, and that’s where you come in! 

Alongside events and activities offered by many other world-leading South Kensington organisations – including the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, V&A and Royal Albert Hall – the Festival gives students and staff across Imperial College London an opportunity to share their stories and groundbreaking research with the public. Your ideas will help us to shape a weekend that intrigues visitors, sparks conversation, and inspires the next generation.

“More people came than I expected, and they all seemed to engage with the subject material on a deeper level than I thought they would originally” - 2024 Great Exhibition Road Festival Contributor

The Great Exhibition Road Festival 2024: In Review 

Thanks to the hard work of up to a thousand Imperial staff and students who contributed to the weekend this year, our visitor feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Some highlights from 2024's public evaluation include:

• 90% of respondents rated the festival good or excellent overall, with 86% agreeing that the Festival felt like ‘something special’  
• 90% stated that they would recommend the event to a friend 
• 91% agreed and strongly agreed they would come to the Great Exhibition Road Festival again 

It’s not just our visitors. This year's contributors had a great experience of the Festival too: 

• 94% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that taking part in the festival was a rewarding and motivating experience. 
• 86% said they would take part in a future festival, the same as in 2023.  
• 92% said they would recommend taking part to a colleague or peer, an increase from 88% in 2023. 

"The Great Exhibition Road Festival is remarkable for many reasons, but it's the contributions from staff and students across Imperial College London that make the weekend so truly special. Each year, we're continuously inspired by the creativity and originality of our contributors' ideas. We're so excited to hear about your plans for new workshops, exhibits, shows and talks that will showcase your innovative and exciting research to the public in 2025.” - Lara Mistry, Head of Public Engagement Programmes

How do I get involved?

If you’ve got an idea for an interactive exhibit, workshop, or talk for the 2025 Great Exhibition Road Festival, be sure to take a look at our Festival Proposal Guidance. It outlines the aims of the Great Exhibition Road Festival, as well as the audiences that we want to attract and the experiences we want to give them. It also covers the benefits and support available to contributors before and during the Festival weekend. 

When you’re ready to submit your proposal for consideration, fill out our online form before Sunday 3 November, 11.59pm. 

Keen to take part but not quite sure how to make your idea a reality? The Festival team are hosting an online advice session on 17 October to discuss how your ideas might work and how you can make them happen. Make sure you register to attend (this will also be recorded).