Graduating from the Atomic Academy at the Great Exhibition Road Festival

Festivals
Written By Lynne Dickens

At the Great Exhibition Road Festival, 15-16 June, PhD students from the Nuclear Energy Futures CDT were excited to bring the ‘Atomic Academy’ to the public for a second time.

Luis and the crowd watch the latest simulated attempt at driving a nuclear reactor

Luis and the crowd watch the latest attempt at driving a nuclear reactor

A group of nuclear researchers from Cambridge University, Imperial College London, Bristol University and Open University delivered an engaging and informative display over the two-day festival, drawing in over 200 people to their stands on nuclear energy.

The ‘Atomic Academy’, previously also seen at the Cambridge Festival, combines an interactive simulation game (where participants can attempt to drive a nuclear reactor) with demonstrations of everyday radioactivity, 3D printed models of fusion reactors, cloud chambers and visualisations of worldwide energy production. After completing the tasks and collecting the stickers, visitors were then awarded with their own nuclear passport, graduating them from the Atomic Academy!

Young children enjoying the festival

The Great Exhibition Road Festival attracted even the youngest budding scientists

The stands were met with an overwhelmingly positive reception, creating interesting and constructive conversations with adults and children alike. The group would like to thank the organisers of the Great Exhibition Road Festival for making such an enjoyable and educational event.

Report by Hannah Tipping, Nuclear Energy Futures, Centre for Doctoral Training - PhD Student

About the Great Exhibition Road Festival

The 2024 Great Exhibition Road Festival celebrated how science and the arts help people, communities and nature flourish with a weekend of free events for all ages in South Kensington on 15-16 June.

Led by Imperial College London with the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Royal College of Music, V&A, Royal Albert Hall and many more partner organisations, the Festival celebrates South Kensington as the home of science and the arts.

Tens of thousands of visitors joined us for an incredible weekend of creative workshops, fascinating talks, interactive exhibits and lively performances. Make sure that you join us again next year as the Festival returns on 7-8 June 2025!

Lynne Dickens

Spot On Creative is a Northants-based creative team who have the hard-earned skills, expertise and industry knowledge that only come from having worked for years in advertising. It’s all managed by Lynne Dickens who has over 20 years’ experience in marketing communications, and ten years in website design and build, and creative team project management.

Lynne is also a qualified art historian and has some expertise in curating fine art exhibitions and producing all of the catalogues, posters and supporting material to create a successful event.

All the guys in our team have worked for one-man bands, SMEs and large blue-chip multinationals in just about every sector, field and industry. We can come up with great ideas, superb design and copy, and exceptional photography for anything from websites to email campaigns, branding to brochures – and everything in between.

And the beauty of Spot On Creative is that we’re big in creativity, experience and knowledge, but small in overheads and invoices. So we’re a much more sensible and affordable option for you than a larger advertising agency or marketing company.

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