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 College London. 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.

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.

Interested in getting involved? 

We work with staff and students to develop activities, talks and demonstrations to ensure that each Imperial Lates event is unique and most importantly, fun! They are a light-hearted and supportive chance for you to try out your engagement ideas. 

The 2024/25 season will begin in November and run until March, exploring the following themes:

• Future Cities: 7 November 2024
• Senses: 5 December 2024
• "Weird" Science: 6 February 2025
• Wellbeing: 6 March 2025

Imperial researchers are invited to submit ideas for taking part in the Lates via an Open Call (please note there are different deadlines to submit ideas for each Lates, which are outlined within the Open Call).

Contact us at lates@imperial.ac.uk with any questions!  

Great Exhibition Road Festival

The Great Exhibition Road Festival is a free public event that saw over 50,000 people attend and engage with some of the incredible work we do in 2024! The Festival will return next summer on 7-8 June 2025.

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 closed for the 2025 Festival but will reopen in autumn 2025 for the 2026 Great Exhibition Road Festival. Information on how to volunteer at the Festival will be released in spring 2025. Sign up to the Societal Engagement newsletter to hear about upcoming opportunities to get involved.

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.

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.