Public and community engagement events

What engagement events can you get involved with?

These are just a few examples of some of the many diverse engagement events taking place across Imperial. You can also contact your relevant Faculty or Departmental engagement staff for more information on upcoming events and opportunities specific to your area.

Are you running a regular engagement event at Imperial that you'd like us to feature? Get in touch.

Great Exhibition Road Festival

The Great Exhibition Road Festival is a free public event that saw over 55,000 people attend and engage with some of the incredible work we do in 2025! The Festival will return next summer on 6-7 June 2026.

Put on in collaboration with the Science Museum, Natural History Museum and the V&A amongst others, this annual event celebrates all things art and science. Taking place in the summer, we invite the public to experience our research up close with the people behind it. The Festival provides an unprecedented opportunity for staff and students to discuss, debate, engage, make and create with thousands of people and put their public engagement skills into practice.

Why not try out your ideas? Whether you’re completely new to engagement or you’ve got an idea for a new activity that you want to trial, we welcome proposals from across Imperial for interactive research demonstrations, facility tours, talks, debates, performances, workshops or any other creative ideas.

The proposals process for our Imperial community is now closed. If you still want to be involved at the 2026 Festival, click here to find out more about volunteering.

Imperial Lates

Imperial Lates are a series of free, after hours, adults-only events. They provide Imperial researchers with a fantastic opportunity to engage with members of the public in an exciting, informal environment.

The themes for the 2025/26 season of Imperial Lates are:

October, Light: Join our researchers in welcoming the autumn and celebrating Diwali, the Festival of Light. Learn all about how light works, as well as it’s uses in health research and even in space! Idea submission deadline: 29 August 2025 (17:00)

November, Time: Explore the nature of time at November’s Imperial Lates. Deep dive into the very first second of the universe, catch up with the fastest object ever built, or dance inside a quantum clock. Idea submission deadline: 22 September 2025 (17:00)

January, Wellbeing: New year, new you! Start 2026 afresh by learning the scientific secrets to hacking your health and wellbeing from Imperial researchers in our January Lates. Idea submission deadline: 17 November 2025 (17:00)

Interested in getting involved? 

Imperial researchers are invited to submit ideas for taking part in the 2025/26 Lates series. Click here to fill out our open call form. If you have any queries about the ideas submission process, please get in touch via email (lates@imperial.ac.uk)

You can submit fully developed activities or initial ideas. The Imperial Lates programming team can help you develop an idea further, discuss opportunities to host a talk or take part in a panel discussion, or connect you with a creative practitioner to explore your research through an artistic workshop. 

If you are an artist or facilitator interested in working with the Imperial Lates team,  please get in touch via email (lates@imperial.ac.uk)

If you are an Imperial staff member or student interested in volunteering at Imperial Lates, you can sign up to the volunteer portal to be the first notified when shifts open. Learn more about volunteering with the public engagement team. 

Discovery Days

Be part of a festival-style Discovery Day at our White City Campus. Discovery Days are your opportunity to take over The Invention Rooms and share your research and passion with the local community. We provide resources and can support you to develop hands-on activities, engaging research demonstrations, talks, performances, workshops or any other creative ideas you have, to make your vision a reality.

Discovery Days are aimed at families and children in and around White City. They present a unique opportunity to engage audiences that might not otherwise take any notice of STEM, making that engagement all the more meaningful and impactful.

Does your research team want to get involved? Get in touch with us for more information.

Agents of Change

The Agents of Change programme supports local women to build their networks, helping them to make positive local change. It offers a space for meaningful connection and collaboration between Imperial and the local community.  

We’re seeking Imperial staff to facilitate workshops designed to help the Agents build their confidence while exploring ways they can get involved in positive changemaking.  

If you are comfortable facilitating a small group session (up to 16 people) and have a good understanding or lived experience of the impact of marginalisation, we want to hear from you! You’ll meet people doing inspiring work, learn from their insight, and find connections and collaborations that go beyond the classroom or lab. 

Applications for the 2026 Agents of Change programme are now closed: click here to join the network to be the first to know when applications open for the 2027 programme.

White City Workshops

With our expert knowledge and resources, we can help you design and deliver engaging STEM workshops for family audiences in and around White City. These workshops can be run during half terms, holidays or as part of our Discovery Day family festivals.

Workshops are a fantastic opportunity to deliver creative and memorable public engagement. Typically, they are around 2 hours long for about 40 people. It might sound scary at first, but don’t worry, we will be on hand to support you and can give you training to boost your confidence. We promise it’s a lot of fun.

You don't need experience to apply. You or your team can work with the Public Engagement Programmer at the The Invention Rooms to develop the content, resources and the activity. Contact us for more information or to get involved.

Inaugural lectures

The Inaugural Lecture series provides a unique platform to celebrate newly appointed Professors. Speakers are given a platform to share the stories and insights of their career with a mixture of friends, family, colleagues and interested members of the public. Lectures are free to attend and are now live streamed via YouTube.

Contact Imperial's central Events team if you’re interested in taking part.