Cheltenham Science Festival is a five-day celebration of science, engineering and the arts, with a reputation for unrivalled quality, entertainment and public engagement.  It is widely acclaimed as the UK’s leading science festival, offering thousands of members of the general public the rare opportunity to interact directly with science: to question, criticise and celebrate it, and to explore its implications for the individual, society, policy-makers and business.

Since 2002 the Festival has strived to achieve its vision and establish its position at the heart of public engagement with science and technology in the UK and beyond: it is a unique event, which is now copied across the globe.

It is renowned for innovative programming, attracting over 38,000 public visits to debates, shows and hands-on activities.  More than 150 events feature eminent scientists, artists and popular public figures, who have included people like David Cameron, Richard Branson and Richard Hammond in recent years, as well as US-based speakers like Steven Pinker from Harvard, Paul Davies from Arizona State University and Joy Reidenberg from Mt Sinai Medical School in New York.

Almost 50 partners work with the Festival, from learned societies and academies, such as The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, to the Research Councils of the UK and industry leaders in energy, life science and engineering, such as Pfizer and EDF Energy.  The Times newspaper became Title Sponsor in 2009.

The festival programme is published at cheltenhamfestivals.com/science in April each year.

Watch this great video overview of the Cheltenham Science Festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yHX_69gwgs