Free public festival of inspiring science and culture this month with the University of Exeter

Invasive hornets, air quality and pollution, and the power of comics to make you happy are among a vibrant programme of public events set to be staged this month.

Led by scholars at the University of Exeter, the free walking tours, workshops, and performances are part of this year’s FUTURES – a festival of discovery – which aims to translate world-class research into fun, hands-on activities for people of all ages.

The events will all be held at Exeter Phoenix across the weekend of 11th and 12th of October, and span a variety of research areas including science, history, modern languages and education.

Among them will be several walking tours around the city that promise to connect people to the environment from different perspectives. Sensing Exeter’s Air Quality: A bird’s view is one of them, and will involve academics and members of the public using a scientific air quality monitor to gain real-time insights into local pollution levels. Over two, one-hour walks, they will also be able to look for bird-themed street art provided by local artist Steve McCracken.

“We’d love for people to go away with a better understanding of pollution levels and its impact, but also to have a better appreciation of what one can notice in general, when we lift up our eyes from our phones and look about us,” says Dr Arthur Rose, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of English and Creative Writing. “We hope it might stimulate interest in citizen science about air pollution monitoring and to understand how communities might take up this interest, while also appreciating that the sensors aren’t the only things doing sensing: we all of us are taking in the city when we walk it.”

Also on the 11th October, Dr Thomas O’Shea-Wheller, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ecology and Conservation, will lead another 60-minute tour, Monitoring Invasive Asian Hornets: From Human Eyes to AI. A specialist on the social behaviour of insects, Dr O’Shea-Wheller will talk about new research that uses AI to tackle the threat of the invasive Asian Hornet, particularly to honey bees, and explain how the public can play a vital role in supporting efforts to prevent it from establishing itself in the UK.

On a broader but related theme, the climate crisis will be the focus of a film screening on the 12th October, with Professor James Dyke of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute joining producer Paul Maple for a showing of System Update. The documentary explores how the climate crisis needs collective action to address, across politics, economics and society.

A musical performance with a difference awaits audiences attending Stories and Songs: Wills as Windows onto Past Lives, featuring musician Chris Hoban and historian Dr Laura Sangha. The event (on the 11th) will showcase a major investigation being led by Exeter’s Department of Archaeology and History entitled The Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790. Funded by The Leverhulme Trust, it is examining an unprecedented number of historic documents held by The National Archives, including 25,000 wills, to understand how material culture developed during an era of increasing commercialisation and trade. From these documents, Hoban, a Devon-based musician, performer and lyricist, who has regularly written for and performed with many renowned artists, has drawn inspiration to write songs, which he will perform for the festival.

Several workshops are also scheduled for the weekend, led by Exeter academics. They include Dr Caitlin Kight’s interactive session on the fundamentals of creating comics, and Professor Hugh Roberts’ creative writing event focusing on Ukrainian poetry and the importance of culture and creativity in developing resilience.

“We have developed a varied programme of events that builds on the success of past FUTURES festivals,” says Dr Dreolin Fleischer, Engaged Research Manager in Exeter Innovation. “The idea is to showcase world-class research that is taking place here in the city, but in a way that is fun, accessible and interactive for people of all ages. Our thanks go to all of the academics and collaborators who are taking time to bring their work to a wider audience.”

Other events include:

• Out in Nature: A Queer Nature Trail of Streatham Campus
• A seed-packing session with Exeter Seed Bank
• A pop-up shop of Science and Culture, (11am-3pm on the 12th), with more than 20 interactive stalls

All events are completely FREE and form part of the South West FUTURES programme, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).