What is the Cheltenham Science Festival?

Cheltenham Science Festival is a week-long festival that takes place each year, covering a variety of STEM related topics. The festival offers everything from intriguing talks on specialist science subjects, to fun workshops for young children.

What’s on at Cheltenham Science Festival this year?

The Science Festival isn’t just about planets and lab work – there’s lots of interesting events to be attended. From how dogs think, to Artificial Intelligence, to recovering from a natural disaster. These topics are just a snippet of what will be discussed during the week, here are a few examples of events coming up during the week:

No and low: The Alcohol-Free Revolution

Alcohol-free lifestyles are becoming more popular. You’ll learn how scientists imitate the taste of alcohol, the health benefits of going alcohol-free, and the science of drinks that claim to give you a buzz without the alcohol.

Learn more about this event.

Gender Health Gap

Medicine has been designed for, and designed by men throughout the history of medicine. This has left a gap in healthcare between men and women. From pain dismissal, to heart attack symptoms being less recognised in women.

Learn more about this event.

How to read a tree

With the help of experts, learn how to read the history of a tree – the weather it’s faced, its age, and the people the tree has interacted with in the past. This event will give you a unique perspective of trees and their stories.

Learn more about this event.

Hungry for change

With the climate at the forefront of many industries’ minds, experts are considering what innovations are needed to improve the eco-friendliness of their respective industries. Listen to experts discuss how the agriculture industry needs to be shaped to feed the planet in an affordable but eco-friendly way.

Learn more about this event.

Cheltenham Science Festival Events

Explore the entire Science Festival schedule to see which events are on and to book tickets.

Science Festival Competition

Also on the schedule is the Science Festival’s annual competition – FameLab. Started by Cheltenham Festivals in 2005, this competition is now an international success, running in over 40 countries.

The competition runs nationally in those 40 countries and then the winning scientific researchers gather to compete for the title of best communicator in the final, international competition. They’re judged on 3 factors – content, clarity, and charisma. They have only 3 minutes to present in-person or online to a global audience.

Learn more about the competition. The competition is also run in a secondary school setting and is known as FameLab Academy.

When is the Cheltenham Science Festival?

Cheltenham’s Science Festival is back for 2023 and running from 6th – 11th June with different events running each day. There is no set opening time as events run at different times from morning time to evening.

Where is Cheltenham Science Festival?

The Science Festival takes place in Central Cheltenham. The base of the festival is set up in Imperial Gardens each year and then events also run throughout the town from Cheltenham Town Hall to Art Centres. 

When looking at individual events, they specify where in Cheltenham they are taking place. They are still centrally located, making it easy to go from one event to the next.

How to book tickets for Cheltenham Science Festival 2023

To book tickets to events, explore the schedule to see which events are running. When you click onto that event you have the option to book the ticket. You can book tickets online this way, or you can phone Cheltenham Festivals to book. You can also purchase tickets at the box office. Learn more about the booking process.

Something to know is that tickets are released in phases, with Cheltenham Festival Members receiving priority booking.

Cheltenham Festival Accommodation

Attendees often watch acts for more than one day of the festival so Cheltenham Science Festival accommodation is popular during this period. 

We offer a variety of Cheltenham Festival Accommodation, with varying sized self-catering luxury apartments. Everything from the cosy 1-bedroom 24 Montpellier, to the spacious 3-bedroom apartment Queens Circus, both of which are based closeby to Imperial Gardens where the Science Festival is taking place.

If you want a close-by apartment, away from the hustle-and-bustle of the festival, you could also opt for an apartment such as 39 Rodney Road House or 10 Royal Parade which are just a 5-10 minute walk away from the event.

Cheltenham Science Festival isn’t the only festival accommodation we provide. Discover our festival accommodation for Cheltenham Literature Festival, Music Festival, Jazz Festival and Gold Cup week.