Essential information about exhibiting at the Summer Science Exhibition
The Summer Science Exhibition (30 June – 5 July 2026) is a free, week-long festival celebrating the cutting edge of UK science. As the Royal Society's longest standing and largest public event, exhibiting is an excellent opportunity to engage a variety of audiences with your research.
We welcome applications from academic institutions, industry and other science-related sectors who have innovative and exciting research to showcase which can form the basis of a fun, interactive and hands-on exhibition stand.
Who can apply?
Applications can be made individually or in collaboration from academic, industry or other science-related sectors researchers. The lead applicant must be a senior researcher based in the UK.
Exhibitors may wish to jointly submit proposals with their collaborators and other research groups and may also recruit undergraduates and students to build their exhibit team. Find out how to apply and the selection criteria.
Audience breakdown
Over the course of the exhibition, we welcome around 10,000 visitors through our doors.
As a rough breakdown, this includes around 8,000 members of the public; 2,000 primary and secondary school students and teachers from all over the UK; and 1,000 invited guests as part of our Soiree evenings, including Fellows and representatives from the media, government and policy influencers.
Preparing your exhibit
Your exhibit should be engaging for a visitor who doesn't have a scientific background and include interactive activities and/or demonstrations. All exhibit spaces are a standard size of 4m x 2m. If your activities require a different size or format, please get in touch before the closing date so we can discuss feasibility.
If successful in your application to exhibit in 2026, representatives of your exhibit group will be invited to the Planning Day at the Royal Society in December 2025. At this event, the Society provides guidance on designing exhibits and you will get a chance to tour the exhibition space. Some exhibitors from the previous year also attend to share their experiences.
During the lead-up to the exhibition in July 2026, our Public Engagement team will be on hand to support you through the stages of your exhibit development. We will also provide public engagement and media/communications skills training for exhibit teams. Find out more about what we require and what we can provide.
Funding your exhibit
The cost of exhibiting varies a great deal, and effective exhibits can be delivered at a range of budgets. Some very successful exhibits have been delivered for budgets of around £5,000 or less, other exhibit teams have spent over £25,000 to deliver theirs. Further details of how teams usually spend on their exhibits will be discussed at our online introductory session and Q&A on Tuesday 9 September 2025.
On average, past exhibitors have allocated around 35% of their budget to exhibit design and build, 30% to displays and interactives, 30% to accommodation, travel and subsistence, and the remaining 5% to items such as promotion, freebies, T-shirts and insurance.
The Summer Science Exhibition requires exhibitors to design and build their exhibit with higher production values than many other science festivals and events. We appreciate that this makes participating in the event expensive and are happy to have conversations with potential and confirmed exhibitors about possible sources of funding.
You may wish to approach your host institution, industry partners, or other public engagement funding schemes to cover costs. Find a list of current public engagement funding opportunities maintained by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE).
Additionally, any Royal Society-funded researcher is encouraged to get in touch with us to find out about any additional Public Engagement funds that may support your exhibit.
This year, we have increased the available grant fund available to exhibitors in recognition of increasing costs of the design and building of high-quality exhibits.
The Royal Society will provide up to £5,000 to support costs associated with exhibiting at the Summer Science Exhibition as described in the budget breakdown above.
Exhibit teams located outside of London will also have the opportunity to apply for additional funding to support travel and accommodation during the week. These applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. We also provide Wi-Fi, power, on-site IT support and portering services for exhibitors during the week.
If selected, your exhibit will also benefit from marketing, communications, media, press, digital communications, and public engagement support.
Find out more about what we require and what we can provide.
During the event
At least four members of the exhibition team should be on the stand during the public opening times for the exhibition and at the additional evening events. We recommend having at least eight members of staff on each stand per day to allow breaks. Visitors enjoy interacting with you and asking questions about your work.
After the exhibition, we encourage exhibitors to scope other opportunities to present the exhibit elsewhere, such as local science centres or science museums, local visitor attractions or public venues, local secondary school fairs or open days at research institutions.
In 2024 the Royal Society launched "Summer Science Exhibits on Tour", a collaboration with regional science festivals and events across the UK, which so far has included British Science Festival, Manchester and Cheltenham Science Festivals, Jodrell Bank and Glastonbury Science Futures, where past Summer Science exhibits had the opportunity to re-exhibit their work with further financial support from the Royal Society
How to apply
The call for proposals for the 2026 Summer Science Exhibition is now open and will close on 8 October 2025. More details on how to apply.
Contact us
If you have any questions, please email us or call on +44 20 7451 2649.