News from our public engagement team

Community Knowledge Incubator Fund

22 May 2026

We are delighted to announce this year's awardees of the Community Knowledge Incubator Fund. The fund seeks to strengthen support for communities to investigate their own questions, challenges, and ideas, and to work with university researchers when it leads to a clear, shared benefit.

TV nutrition and health experts raise a glass to science at Cambridge’s Pint of Science festival

13 May 2026

TV nutrition and health experts will take centre stage alongside astronomers, neuroscientists and AI experts at the annual Pint of Science festival next week, with public talks in the unlikeliest of ‘lecture theatres’ – local Cambridge pubs.

50,000 join Cambridge Festival for ideas, debate and discovery

09 Apr 2026

Cambridge turned curious, noisy and gloriously hands on this spring as the Cambridge Festival wrapped its 2026 edition with a surge of public energy, big ideas and record numbers.

Pupils wear blue scrubs, masks, and caps stand attentively indoors, conveying focus and teamwork in a medical setting.

The Cambridge Festival welcomes students from across the country for a taste of university life

30 Mar 2026

Over 1,200 KS2 and KS3 pupils from across the region and beyond flocked to the Cambridge West site to experience studying at the University of Cambridge with a selection of lectures and workshops held as part of the Cambridge Festival.

Speaker spotlight: Dr Theo Di Castri

25 Mar 2026

On Saturday 28 March (1pm-3pm), join Theo and his colleagues Bisi Akintoye, Kojo Koram and Shayla Schlossenberg, a series of hands-on interactive activities we will imagine what futures beyond drug prohibition could look like here in Cambridge.

Speaker spotlight: Professor Ella McPherson

18 Mar 2026

In this Speaker Spotlight, we speak to Professor Ella McPherson who will be speaking at a Gates Cambridge panel discussion exploring how you can lead with courage in an age of autocracy, misinformation and lack of trust.

Speaker spotlight: Hanna Foerster

17 Mar 2026

In this Speaker Spotlight, we spoke to PhD researcher Hanna Foerster on how can we reconcile these tensions between the usefulness and the danger of AI.

Speaker spotlight: SPROUT Study

16 Mar 2026

Dr Cara Ruggiero (Principal Investigator) and Dr Marie Spreckley (Co-Investigator) from the MRC Epidemiology Unit lead the SPROUT (Supporting Parental Responsive Feeding for Optimal Understanding of Thriving Child Development) study, a project exploring the relationship between food insecurity...

Speaker spotlight: Professor Catherine Meads

13 Mar 2026

In this Speaker Spotlight, we speak to Catherine Meads, Professor of Health at Anglia Ruskin University. She will be speaking at Silenced data: The politics of health research in the USA on Tuesday 17 March, which explores how the current political climate in the USA is impacting research into the...

Speaker spotlight: Natalia Domagala

12 Mar 2026

Our next speaker spotlight features Natalia Domagala, a Policy Fellow at the Centre for Science and Policy. Drawing from insights from leading voices in AI and technology ethics, Natalia will examine the broader systems and power dynamics behind AI - from data extraction and global inequalities to...