Edinburgh Science Festival 2025 Launches
The Edinburgh Science Festival was the world's first such festival when it launched in 1989. Today it remains the UK’s largest Science Festival and for 2 weeks each year - centred around the Easter break - offers a range of amazing experiences for all ages, with a programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, performances, screenings and discussions between some of the world's foremost scientific minds.
This year, the festival theme is Spaceship Earth – a recognition that our planet is not just a backdrop to life but a shared, living system that connects us all. Through the lenses of sustainability, space exploration, and emerging technologies, this Festival invites you to discover how we can work together to create a more just and regenerative world.
At the heart of the festival is a spectacular line-up of renowned scientists, bold explorers, and creative thinkers, including Richard Dawkins, NASA astronaut Kathy Sullivan, The Great British Sewing Bee’s Patrick Grant, and sustainability expert Mike Berners-Lee. They join over 400 active researchers from across the UK, all dedicated to bringing science into public conversation, sparking curiosity, and inspiring action.
The 2025 Festival has four key strands to help you browse the programme:
- Science for Families: From hands-on workshops, interactive activities and explosive science shows, we have everything you need for the perfect family day out this Easter. This year also marks the launch of DiscoveryLab, the reimagined flagship family experience at City Art Centre. Designed to ignite wonder in young minds, families will dive into interactive exhibits, get stuck into exciting experiments, and uncover the joy of discovery together.
- Science for Adults: Broadcasting big ideas! Hear from experts as they share the latest discoveries, technology and research shaping the world that we live in – from genes to galaxies and death to immortality.
- Science Nights Out: Enjoy science in a relaxed environment with friends at our Science Nights Out, our adults-only events that combine science, art, hands-on activities and music in the ultimate Festival experience.
- Science and Art: These exhibitions blend science and art through breathtaking photography and thought-provoking art pieces, exploring everything from vaccine development to microscopic marine life.
Edinburgh has long been a city where science thrives, and we are proud to collaborate once again with Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh Zoo, the National Museum of Scotland, The University of Edinburgh, and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh – institutions that continue to make Scotland a global hub for scientific innovation.
So, join us aboard Spaceship Earth, a fragile vessel adrift in the cosmic sea, bound only by the limits of our curiosity and imagination. Ask questions, challenge ideas, and explore new frontiers – because science is a tool of discovery that belongs to all of us, and through it we chart our course among the stars.