On Saturday, 5 July 2025, from 11 am to 3 pm, families gathered at East hill Park Café in Portslade for the town’s first-ever free science fair.
The fair welcomed families across Brighton & Hove, especially Portslade, to experience hands-on science activities and explore everything from neuroscience and geometric shapes to DNA and robotics. It was organised by a team of research students and postdocs from the University of Sussex’s Faculty of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, in partnership with Portslade People and Fresh Start Portslade. Funding came from the university’s Researcher-Led Initiative (RLI) fund, which supports initiatives that strengthen research culture. On the day, 25 volunteers, mostly Neuroscience and Psychology master’s students, came together to support the smooth running of the event, creating a vibrant, collaborative atmosphere that reflected the strong community spirit behind it.
“Portslade is a town on the outskirts of Brighton, and has often been overlooked by science events,” said one of the lead organisers, Amber Shepard, “As someone who grew up in Portslade, I felt that this is the sort of event I would have really enjoyed and benefited from as a child. Being in a position now to organise such an event has been an amazing opportunity.”
The fair featured a wide range of stalls and interactive demonstrations from Sussex researchers across disciplines, including maths, physics, life sciences, informatics, and engineering. Activities ranged from extracting DNA from fruits, playing wildlife bingo, learning how neurons work within the body, to using telescopes to view the sun, and exploring robotic arms.
At least 335 visitors from across Brighton & Hove attended, with around 60% from Portslade (based on 25 collected feedback forms representing 83 attendees). Nearly half of the attendees were children, showing clear enthusiasm for science among the young generations. Most people had rarely or never attended a science event before, yet were very eager to attend again – a strong sign that the fair successfully sparked new interest in science among the community.
As a Sussex student, I got an opportunity to volunteer at the Wildlife Bingo stall, where I spent the day encouraging children and parents to explore native species and match what they found to cartoon images on a bingo card. Once they found five, they came back for a sticker. The children were so excited by the challenge and embraced it completely that one even ran off to dig a hole in the park in search of a worm. Being a volunteer at the event was both inspiring and rewarding. It gave me a chance to share my love for science with the attendees, whilst also connecting with other enthusiastic volunteers who made the event possible.
The experience reminded me of attending science events as a child, which helped cultivate within me a profound love for learning and deepen my understanding of the world. Events like this have the power to ignite a lifelong passion for science and perhaps even shape future scientists.
The team hopes this is just the beginning. “We already have many ideas for a similar event next year, which I am very excited about,” said Amber Shepard. Plans for next year’s fair are already underway, and the organisers hope that more students and staff from the university will get involved!
If you are interested in collaborating, volunteering, or sponsoring next year’s event, please contact the organisers at: PortsladeScienceFair@sussex.ac.uk
For updates and photo highlights, visit: https://sites.google.com/sussex.ac.uk/portsladesciencefair.
