Highlights for medics

Fascinated by medicine?

From drug delivery to DNA, paper brains to brains on drugs, there's so much medical innovation to discover at the the Great Exhibition Road Festival. Our highlights take place on both Saturday and Sunday and are drop-in unless specified otherwise.

Don't forget, if you register for Alumni Weekend, you'll also get access to the Alumni Lounge. Enjoy free refreshments all day, and a space away from the crowds where you and your guests can take a moment to relax together. If you register by 8.00 BST on Monday 15 May, you'll get priority booking for our exclusive alumni tours and some of the most popular Great Exhibition Road Festival talks.

Top picks for medics

Illustration of a cell

Amazing artificial cell factory

Enter the factory to discover how Imperial scientists build tiny artificial cells, and make your own giant artificial cell to take home.

Build a cell

Child exploring an anatomical model

Brilliant Bodies zone

Marvel at the ingenious engineering and design within us all, before exploring what can go wrong.

Explore the wonders of our bodies

Children engage with a click chemistry exhibit at the Great Exhibition Road Festival

Click chemistry key chains

Inspired by the 2022 Noble prize for chemistry, discover the implications of click chemistry for drug delivery around the body.

Design sugar molecules

Image of a hand coloured pink and purple

DNA arts space

Join Imperial’s DNA doctors and genome generals as they celebrate the wonderous four-letter language that is driving a revolution in personalised healthcare.

Create art

Clinic themed escape room

Escape the clinic!

Solve puzzles, crack codes and uncover hidden messages as you dive into our drug trial-themed escape room.

Can you enrol the patient?

Children interacting with the extract DNA from a strawberry exhibit

Extract DNA from a strawberry

Work with Imperial scientists to extract DNA from fruit, and discover their remarkable research.

Explore DNA

Graphic of a hand holding a pen with DNA overlaid

Medical Marvels zone

Family science shows, live demonstration and artistic depictions of future treatments will showcase the models and new technologies available to tomorrow’s doctors.

Fight against health crises

Model of a brain made out of paper

Paper brain hat workshop

Make paper brain hats to celebrate the wonderous grey matter between our ears with brain scientists and art educator Bethan Durie.

Celebrate our wonderous grey matter

schistosomiasis parasite

Parasites

Find out more about parasites and the impact they can have on human health around the world.

Learn about schistosomiasis

Brain imaging experiment

Photographing the invisible

Capture unobservable sounds using photography and uncover the physical principles enabling us to develop the future of brain imaging. Saturday only.

See a demonstration

Pregnant body in the V and A globe space

Redesigning childbirth

Discover how lived experience of childbirth inspired a whole new career as Stiliyana Minkovska describes her journey as a designer, mother and woman. Saturday only.

Grab a cushion and get comfortable for a personal tale

Brain scan image

The brain on drugs

Professor David Nutt will take you on a 250 year tour of scientific enquiry into the origins of cognitive performance and creativity. Sunday only, priority booking with an Alumni Lounge pass.

Explore the neuroscience of consciousness