Academics from Lancaster’s Chemistry Department and School of Computing and Communications entertain visitors with science-based fun at the 2026 Windermere Science Festival.

Taking place once again at Windermere Jetty Museum, Windermere Science Festival is a cornerstone of northwest science engagement, bringing together the best of scientific communicators for a weekend of exciting and interactive events and exhibits. This year’s festival took place on 9^th – 10^th May, and teams from the two Lancaster departments brought a range of scientifically-based activities to enable families to learn more about the research that is undertaken across the Faculty.

On the Saturday, Drs Mike Mercer and John Hardy contributed the ever-popular “Penny Battery” experiment, which allowed children to power small LED lights with nothing more than cheap, common household items: 2p coins, some vinegar-soaked cardboard, and some aluminium foil. Additionally, PhD students Shyamli Suneesh and Gopika Hosangadi and undergraduate Devanshi Gupta brought along QT the social robot, a pioneering assistive tool in children’s education, to meet and interactive with young people and challenge them on their beliefs surrounding the capabilities of robots.

Sunday saw Professor Joe Finney and Dr Lorraine Underwood – both academics based in the School of Computing and Communications and members of the Micro:bit Innovation and Research Lab at Lancaster – showcasing their “Micro:bit Challenge”, where members of the public get to have a go at coding their very-own Micro:bit-powered robot and learn about the fantastic initiative spearheaded by academics at Lancaster to get young people into coding and computer science.

Despite the chillier weather than last year, the festival still drew in excess of 1000 visitors across the two days, with families coming from across the northwest – and beyond – to visit the festival.

On the success of the festival, Dr Mike Mercer commented: “Our “Penny Battery” demonstration proved once again to be a big hit with families. The trip to Windermere went well, with many visitors engaging with the event. Some of the children couldn’t stop making the batteries!”.

Professor Joe Finney added: “'It was fantastic to engage with this event, help to inspire so many young minds, and to see the amazing ways that Micro:bit is being used in the community, as well as demonstrating some of our own uses for it.”.