"I believe one of the greatest benefits the BA brings is its efforts to enthuse young people about science"
Professor Robert Winston, BA President 2004-2005
The BA Festival of Science
The BA Festival of Science is the BA's flagship event and Europe's largest annual public science event attracting many 10s of thousands of people from all walks of life every year. Through the Festival we aim to connect people of all types with scientists, engineers and social scientists both to celebrate the sheer excitement of the latest developments and to engage in open discussion about issues that interest and concern large numbers of people about scientific advance.
The Festival also attracts the highest rates of press coverage of any annual UK science event. Each year hundreds of events, debates, workshops, exhibitions and activities take place in a different city giving the Festival a different feel and focus each year. In 2007 we are please to be bringing the BA Festival of Science to York in September in partnership with the University of York. For further details please visit the Festival Opportunities page.
National Science and Engineering Week
National Science and Engineering Week takes place every March and is ten days packed with activities to celebrate science and its importance in our lives. National Science and Engineering Week provides an excellent opportunity for people of all ages from right across the UK to participate in science, technology and engineering activities. In 2006 the BA coordinated over 2000 events across the UK organised by companies, universities, schools, community groups and other committed volunteers. The week inspired over 1500 articles in regional and national press and featured in numerous radio and television broadcasts. Over half a million people attended the events during the week.
The BA coordinates National Science and Engineering Week by providing free support, information and advice. This year, for the first time, we are offering the opportunity to sponsor the pack we produce as a guide for those wishing to stage their own National Science and Engineering Week events. The pack is distributed to all event organisers nationwide. Sponsorship of this resource would be an excellent opportunity to reach people involved in science events throughout the UK, if you are interested in how your organisation could get involved please contact our Fundraising Team.
We are also looking for organisations interested in advertising in the 2007 National Science and Engineering Week programme. The programme will be produced in 11 regional versions and be distributed to schools across the UK. Full advertising rates can be obtained from our Fundraising Team.
The BA's Young People's Programme
The BA currently reaches around 66,000 young people each year throughout the UK. These young people are involved in our science and engineering award schemes; First Investigators, Young Investigators, Science Communicators & CREST. (More information about which can be found in the 'resources for learning' section of this website). The aim of these programmes are to offer young people positive encounters with science and technology and provide a means by which participants can achieve and celebrate their success by obtaining recognition for their work.
This programme has great potential for companies wishing to support work in Education. There are numerous ways to contribute from sponsoring the National CREST Fair, to supporting our access science scheme to sponsoring new CREST resources.
If you are interested in how your organisation could get involved please contact our Fundraising Team.