UWE Bristol is delighted to once again take part in the Festival of Nature, the UK’s largest celebration of the natural world. UWE staff, families, and friends are warmly invited to join us at Millennium Square, Bristol City Centre, on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 June, where our researchers will be showcasing an inspiring range of activities in the UWE tent.
What UWE Researchers Are Bringing to the Festival
This year’s programme features a rich mix of hands‑on workshops and interactive demonstrations.
Clair Schwarz (CATE) will introduce visitors to the ecological and cultural significance of the wren, offering the chance to create clay wrens and paper masks while exploring themes of storytelling, identity, and tradition.
Dr Laura Morgan (CATE) and Laura Clarke (CATE) will run a bio screen‑printing workshop using colour derived from native UK trees, helping visitors understand where textile colour comes from, why it matters, and how material choices can support more sustainable futures.
Nature‑inspired innovation will also be on display as Lidia Badarnah (CATE) and Dr Sigita Zigure (CATE) demonstrate how biomimicry, bio‑design, and nature‑based solutions can help create greener, cooler, and more resilient places. Their activity invites visitors to take part in creative challenges that show how nature can guide imaginative problem‑solving.
Verity Jones (CHSS) will share Taking a Close Look at Microfibres, an activity linking UWE research on air quality with the Schools Under the Microscope project, offering a creative way to explore microfibres, clothing, and indoor air quality.
Kishwar Ali (CHSS) will showcase research on how plants respond to climate change, how biodiversity supports resilient ecosystems, and how we can design greener, climate‑smart cities and landscapes.
Families can also meet the Oak Tree Doctors, presented by Carrie Brady (CHSS) and her research group. This hands‑on activity introduces the importance of healthy trees and the challenges posed by Acute Oak Decline (AOD), a disease affecting native UK oak species involving bacteria, the Agrilus biguttatus beetle, and environmental stressors.
Freya Radford (CHSS) will help visitors understand what makes a healthy river system, the organisms that live there, the stressors they face, and how biodiversity and ecosystem structure influence a river’s ability to withstand pollution.
Exploring greener streets, Yarden Woolf (CHSS) will present GP4Streets, an interdisciplinary project showing how everyday streets can become healthier and more climate‑resilient through simple, community‑led action. The project brings together expertise from urban planning, landscape architecture, public health, environmental science, and air quality research.
Oluwadamilola Okeyoyin (CHSS) will offer Plants and You, an interactive activity inviting visitors to touch, smell, and investigate herbs and plant materials while discovering how plants, microbes, and everyday health are interconnected.
Emma Thomas (CHSS) will present The Rights of Rivers an activity grounded in interdisciplinary research that treats rivers as teachers, collaborators, and agents within environmental futures. This work challenges narratives that position rivers as passive victims of pollution, instead highlighting river agency and diverse forms of knowledge—scientific, sensory, cultural, ancestral, and experiential.
Beyond the UWE tent, Kat Corbett (CATE) will contribute to the ‘How‑To’ Talks Tent with an activity focused on the circular economy. Using materials from the Scrapstore, participants will experiment with creating multiple objects from the same set of resources—such as playdough, buttons, and milk bottle lids—highlighting the value of reuse, imagination, and resourcefulness.
About the Festival
The Festival of Nature is directed by the Natural History Consortium, a partnership of 14 regional and national organisations, including UWE Bristol, the BBC, and the National Trust, working together to engage people with the natural world through collaborative action.
The Wild Weekend at Bristol’s Millennium Square is the largest event in the Festival of Nature programme, attracting 10,000–15,000 visitors over the weekend.
Find the full programme of events at Festival of Nature Website and follow updates on social media at @festofnature.
Event Details
Saturday 13 June 2026: 10:00–18:00
Sunday 14 June 2026: 10:00–17:00
Location: Millennium Square, Bristol City Centre, BS1 5SZ