Scientific research will illuminate the whole city on Friday 26 September, when the University of Bristol, Bristol Natural History Consortium, and the University of the West of England, collaborate on this special night. The showcase provides free events across various city centre venues in celebration of Bristol’s tradition for cutting-edge research.
From early afternoon into the evening, Bristol’s Harbourside will be the host of hands-on activities - including exhibitions at At-Bristol, talks at the Watershed, live street performances and behind the scenes tours exploring the development of the world’s fastest car.
Visitors to Bristol Bright Night will explore bugs that glow in the dark, debate ‘robots vs animals’, enjoy pop-up science theatre, cook and eat with researchers while discussing how their work impacts on the daily life of a Bristolian, and learn how a pedestrian bridge could span Bristol Harbour.
Hayley Shaw, Cabot Institute Manager at the University of Bristol, said: “This event is all about bringing science into the public domain and demonstrating that anyone can engage with research – young or old. We hope that people will be inspired by the range of environmental, health, and engineering research in this fun and thought-provoking day.”
Bristol’s schools will also be taking part in the event through the ‘Bristol Bright Ideas’ competition, which challenges students to put forward innovative research ideas, themed on ‘My City’. Students can win the opportunity to work with an academic to develop their ‘My City’ idea into a research project, which will be included in the 2015 Bristol Bright Night programme as part of the Bristol Green Capital celebrations.
Bristol Bright Night is part of the annual ‘Researchers’ Night’ programme which is funded by the EU Commission and aims to engage the European public in celebrating the latest and most stimulating research at a local and an international level. Simultaneous events will take place in over 300 cities, spanning 24 European countries.
Bristol Bright Night takes place on Friday 26 September 2014. For further information visit the Bristol Bright Night website.