The Tasmanian National Science Week program of events is available here and will continue to be updated as more events are announced.
National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology.
This year, National Science Week is officially 15 to 23 August, but here in Tasmania, it is more like science month! In a typical year, there are 80-100 events throughout August, for the public as well as in schools.
Science Week 2026 highlights include:
Beaker Street Festival
12-19 August, Hobart and surrounds
This unique festival blends science with art and culinary experiences, featuring immersive exhibits on Antarctic science, space exploration, and future food trends. This year, the festival includes more than 100 University of Tasmania scientists across more than 70 free and ticketed events, plus tours of the University’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies and Mount Pleasant Radio Telescope Observatory. The University has also partnered with Beaker Street to bring Australia’s favourite science communicator, Dr Karl, to Burnie and Hobart.
Festival of Bright Ideas
14 August (schools only), Hobart
15 August (public event), Hobart
Things will whiz, bang, fly, crawl, swim and maybe even explode when the Festival of Bright Ideas returns to Hobart. Tasmania’s much-loved hands-on science festival will bring together researchers, inventors, educators and STEM organisations for a day of interactive discovery. From curious kids to lifelong learners, FOBI invites everyone to get up close with the science, technology and innovation happening right here in Tasmania.
Hive’s Seeds of Curiosity
8-26 August, Ulverstone
Seeds of Curiosity invites you to dig into the science that shapes our world and our region. Across three weeks of hands-on workshops, inspiring talks, family activities and special events, Hive will showcase the science that sustains our region, from agribusiness innovation to astronomy, connecting big business, community groups, Aboriginal environmental managers, schools and local venues. Whether you’re a lifelong science lover, a curious beginner or looking for a great family day out, there’s something for everyone to discover.
Science made Beerable’s ExBeerimental
TBC August, Burnie
TBC August, Launceston
21 August, Hobart
Science is on tap this National Science Week, with ExBEERimental Science turning beer tasting into a hands-on lesson in chemistry, microbiology and flavour. Tasmanian brewers will take on bold brewing challenges, creating experimental beers that reveal how tiny changes in yeast, hops, malt, water and timing can transform the final product. With events in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie, it is a fun, social and very Tasmanian way to explore the science behind one of the world’s favourite drinks.
Big Burnie Science Week featuring the GreenSTEM Fair
18-19 August, Burnie
Burnie will become Tasmania’s City of Science during National Science Week, with a week-long celebration bringing students, families, scientists, industry and the wider community together for hands-on STEM experiences. At the centre of Big Burnie Science Week is the GreenSTEM Fair, where young people from across northwest Tasmania will showcase science investigations, engineering prototypes and technology projects alongside interactive exhibits, workshops and public presentations. With expected appearances from leading science communicators including Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Dr Kirsten Banks, the program will put regional Tasmania in the spotlight and inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and innovators.
The Clitoral Chronicles
11 August, Ulverstone
21-22 August, Hobart
Science gets sexy, funny and seriously smart in a bold new National Science Week show exploring the evolutionary biology of the clitoris. Blending comedy, physical theatre, anatomical costumes and wild true stories from the animal kingdom, the show flips outdated ideas about sex, gender and science on their head — and puts female and LGBTQIA+ perspectives centre stage.
NatureTracking across the Furneaux Islands and beyond
24-27 August, Flinders Island
From eagle nests to crayfish burrows and mysterious night-time calls, Furneaux Islanders are being invited to help uncover the wildlife stories unfolding around them. NatureTrackers are bringing hands-on citizen science to Flinders Island and Trowuna/Cape Barren Island, helping locals use survey tools and acoustic recorders to monitor threatened species and fill major gaps in Tasmania’s conservation knowledge.
Move those wiggles! The art and science of toddler-wrangling
August 14, Glenorchy
August 18, Geeveston
August 21, Kingston
August 22, online
Toddlerhood can feel chaotic, but there is a lot of science behind the meltdowns, big feelings and daily battles. This National Science Week event will give parents a fun, practical and reassuring look inside the rapidly developing toddler brain, using storytelling, music, visual tools and hands-on discussion to explain how young children process emotions and stress, understand the science of co-regulation and take home simple, evidence-backed music and body-based tools to support their toddlers and themselves through the big feelings years.
Pedal Powered Cinema
22 August, Hobart
Movie night meets renewable energy at the Pedal Powered Cinema, where the audience will help power the projector, laptop and speaker by riding specially designed bikes. The event will screen The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the inspiring true story of a young inventor who used a bicycle to help bring energy to his community, with energy specialist Mike Fewings explaining the science behind the pedal-powered technology. Pedal-powered smoothies, food and a post-film discussion about local energy ideas included.
From Fact to Fiction
16 August, Hobart
From supermassive black holes in Interstellar to a robot cleaning up a junk-filled, deserted Earth in Wall-E, science in films allows us to look into the future and inspires us to push the boundaries of what we know. That’s What I Call Science is eager to present From Fact to Fiction. We will bring together both science and art through a screening of a science fiction film, followed by a panel of STEM experts. Together we will explore the science in the film and how it relates to the experts’ own research down here in Lutruwita/Tasmania!
And much more!
Get involved! Follow our social media to get updates on all things #scienceweek in Tassie! Hope to see you at one of the events in August! Or download the poster and pop it up in your office, workplace or school.
Tasmanian 2026 National Science Week Grant Winners
This year’s grants were awarded to:
Australian Association For Environmental Education, Tas Chapter
Pedal Powered Cinema
Bookend Trust
NatureTracking across the Furneaux Islands and Beyond
Casey Garrett Tasman Tutoring
Blast Off! A space adventure
Dr Penny Jones
Move those wiggles! The art and science of toddler-wrangling
GreenSTEM Education
Big Burnie Science Week featuring the GreenSTEM Fair
Science Made Beerable Inc.
ExBEERimental Science
SexEd on Stage
The Clitoral Chronicles
STEMM Communicators Australia / That’s What I Call Science
From Fact to Fiction
A big thank you to the 2025 and 2026 National Science Week STEM Champion: Hydro Tasmania.
National Science Week is a program of Inspiring Australia, supported by the University of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Government and the Australian Government.
View the 2025 Science Week Report.