The University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering brought FunLab back to the Trafford Centre on 7 and 8 March to mark the start of British Science Week. This was the first time the event had taken place since COVID, when it was known as ScienceX, and it was by far the biggest yet. 

FunLab is the Faculty’s flagship off‑campus public engagement event. This free weekend of science activities aims to show what real life science and engineering involve and to inspire the next generation of potential scientists and engineers. Holding the event in the Trafford Centre allowed the University to reach a wider audience than on campus, including people and communities under‑represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and those who may feel that STEM or university study is not for people like them. 

Across the weekend, staff and student volunteers delivered hands‑on science activities and spoke with more than 35,000 visitors of all ages. Engagement increased by 10,000 compared with pre‑COVID ScienceX events, even though overall visitor numbers in the Trafford Centre were lower. Of those who had never attended a science event before, 92 percent said that because of FunLab they would do so again. 

The extent of interest and engagement in the activities, both from people who chose to come responding to Trafford Centre marketing, and those who came across us on the day is testament to the enthusiasm and hard work of all our inspiring volunteer staff and students who delivered some amazing activities.  Visitors could watch demonstrations of our robot dog and find out how this technology enables us to operate in environments unsafe for humans, they could test their hand at landing a plane in the flight simulator and had the chance to get ‘hands‑on’ with fossils and science experiments. 

Feedback from visitors and from the Trafford Centre team has once again been overwhelmingly positive.  One family who had not known about FunLab before arriving reported: [We] “absolutely loved getting involved with everything. The staff were very informative, kind and made it all fun. . . Thankyou so much for this wonderful event.” 

Our partners at the Trafford Centre are already keen to welcome FunLab back showing that for them, we’re ‘the university to partner with’ and the Faculty Social Responsibility & EDIA team who organised the weekend will be exploring how this existing partnership might continue to develop in ways that further contribute to the Faculty’s actions delivering the Manchester 2035 strategy. 

Find out more about the incredible activities at this year’s event and look out for updates on future FunLab events on the FunLab website.