Since 2018, for two days in the autumn, FUTURES: A Festival of Discovery has been an opportunity for people to discover more about the research that is shaping our future with researchers from the region’s universities. FUTURES received funding from the European Commission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions as part of European Researchers’ Night (2018-2021) and UK Research and Innovation as part of the Horizon Europe Guarantee (2022 -2025).
FUTURES: A Festival of Discovery was a public engagement collaboration between the University of Bath, Bath Spa University, University of Bristol, University of Exeter and University of Plymouth. The consortium was reduced to Bristol, Bath and Bath Spa in 2026 in response to changes to European Researchers’ Night funding.
The team of public engagement professionals from across the consortium have been working with researchers and partner organisations such as museums, libraries, sports centres and cultural venues to develop engagement activities.
The team have been pushing the boundaries of programming for public engagement with research, producing a range of experimental and innovative activity formats online and in-person. These have included participatory workshops, hands-on experiments, theatre performances, community radio, science shows, games, quizzes, talks, competitions, and exhibitions.
Between 2018 and 2023, 296,328 people participated in 174 FUTURES in-person and online activities, meeting over 1,761 researchers exploring diverse research topics including medieval manuscripts, artificial intelligence, climate change, microbial resistance and much more.
Previous editions
- FUTURES2025
- FUTURES2024
- FUTURES2023
- FUTURES2022
- FUTURES2021
- FUTURES2020
Project reports
Detailed descriptions of the work to develop and deliver FUTURES each year can be found in the reports produced as part of the reporting to the funders. These reports cover details and outcomes of the awareness-raising campaign, descriptions of the activities, and an evaluation and impact assessment of each edition of FUTURES.
