CDT at the Science Festival

Every year, our students co-organised and participate in a CDT specific session as part of the annual Edinburgh Science Festival. We treat this as an opportunity for the students to gain experiences in communicating their research to a wider public, and for them to get feedback and ideas on their research from a wider audience.

In 2025, the theme of the CDT festival event was AI for All: Designing Responsibly, and the event was held on 11th April. All 11 of our first cohort of CDT students participated in the day, making it a huge collaboartive effort. The event was in the style of a “pop up” exhibition, which was kindly hosted by the Edinburgh Futures Institute in their cafe area.

All students had carefully prepared posters communicating their research interests in ways that would be undersatndable to a general and diverse audience. Many of the students also created interactive experiences and activities releated to their projects, many of which really captured the attention and imagination of the public!

Over the course of the day the pop-up event over 250 members of the public visited the event, some of whom stayed for several hours playing with and contributing to the various demos and activities on display.

We’re planning for the next CDT festival to again be part of the Edinburgh Science Festival in April 2026.

Image credits: Chris Scott