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Anna Lundmark, Communications officer
Department of Ecology, SciFest
anna.lundmark@slu.se
+4618672335
News
Brilliant contribution from SLU at SciFest
Published: 15 October 2026
Wow, what a festival! Thousands of SciFest visitors gained insight into the lives of farmers in Tanzania, explored life in the soil, experimented with photosynthesis and much more. Fyrishov buzzed with activities and discussions for three days.
SciFest is a science festival organised by SLU and Uppsala University that took place 8-10 October. SLU contributed 20 activities, as well as speakers on stage and student assistants. We do not know exactly how many people from SLU took part, but there were at least 100. SciFest is a major event for SLU.
The creativity and commitment shown by everyone from SLU were impressive!
Large numbers of visitors
The festival met its visitor targets, although we are still counting because some schools missed the registration process. That is how eager they were to take part in the programme! The final figure is usually around 7,000 visitors.
SciFest does not aim to attract more and more visitors every year. What matters is that those who attend have a positive experience, become curious about a wide range of subjects and remember it as a fun day. Some of the school pupils who appeared on stage alongside researchers from Uppsala University and SLU declared it “the best day ever”. When that happens, SciFest has succeeded!
SciFest does, however, aim to reach a broader audience. Among other things, we have provided sponsored bus transport from outlying areas, rural communities and nearby towns from which it would otherwise be more difficult to travel to SciFest. We also held activities ahead of SciFest during Uppsala Culture Night and at the community centres in Gränby and Gottsunda, helping more people discover and attend the festival.
SLU meets children and young people
SciFest is an excellent opportunity for many people to discover SLU and learn about what happens here. Hopefully, at least some of them will become SLU students in the future.
It is also a very good way for researchers and others at SLU to gain insight into the questions that interest children and young people. Some exhibitors actively collect information from visitors, for example about which parts of broccoli people consider edible.
There were around 80 activities each day, covering an exciting and remarkably broad range of subjects, from hieroglyphs to insects galleries in wood. Where else could you learn about all of that in a single day?
Anna Lundmark, SciFest Communications Officer and Coordinator of SLU’s Activities
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Mats Jonsell is showing forest insects and insect galleries. Photo: Anna Lundmark
1/13
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What is it like to be a farmer in Tanzania? SLU researchers in rural development have created a game. Here, Katarina Pettersson and Theresé Engvall play it with visitors on Saturday. Photo: Anna Lundmark
2/13
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Tord Ranheim Sveen visited the stand about the heroes beneath our feet. He is the expert in a citizen science project led by ForskarFredag (Researchers’ Night), in which school classes throughout Sweden have collected soil samples. Photo: Anna Lundmark
3/13
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Anton de Jong shows parasites to a small visitor. Larger parasites can be seen with the naked eye and smaller ones that are best viewed through a microscope. Photo: Anna Lundmark
4/13
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Karl Lundén demonstrates a method used in environmental monitoring. A toothbrush can be used to scrape algae from stones. Photo: Anna Lundmark
5/13
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Bella Strid engages with a young visitor at the soil stand, where visitors could look at soil fauna, see how roots grow in different soils and explore the soil digitally from a microbe’s perspective. Photo: Anna Lundmark
6/13
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Joachim de Miranda demonstrates how bee lining works: how the flight direction of bees and the time it takes them to return can be used to locate wild bee colonies. Photo: Anna Lundmark
7/13
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Taste fermented milk past its best-before date and unpeeled carrots! Visitors were also invited to contribute their perspectives. Runa Halvarsson and Rebecca Waterhouse engage with visitors at SciFest. Photo: Anna Lundmark
8/13
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The larvae that eat food waste have been part of SciFest for many years. They help close the loop by consuming waste and then being used as animal feed. SciFest visitors also enjoy the excitement of holding them. Here you can see Ya Gao and Viktoria Wiklicky. Foto: Anna Lundmark
9/13
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SLU Grogrund’s challenging seed quiz. Photo: Anna Lundmark
10/13
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As climate change leads to more extreme weather, heavier downpours may flood our cities. Here, visitors create stormwater parks that reduce the risks while providing pleasant places to spend time. Photo: Anna Lundmark
11/13
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Through simple experiments, visitors learn how photosynthesis works. Here, Alejandro Fonseca Cárdenas helps visitors with the activities. Photo: Anna Lundmark
12/13
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Sille Holm talks about the secret life of butterflies. Visitors could build networks of butterflies, their caterpillars and host plants. They could also examine butterflies through a magnifying glass and try using the nets that researchers use to catch them. Photo: Anna Lundmark
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