The 2024/25 Imperial Lates season saw innovative Imperial research shared with over 2,500 members of the public
This season of Imperial Lates ended with an evening packed full of talks, activities and workshops themed around 'Future Cities', a truly high(-rise) note to finish on! Visitors had the chance to step into the London of tomorrow by making mushroom growing starter kits, guessing which Underground line has the most polluted air, and building a cardboard city.
"Imperial Lates has always been a platform for our researchers to try out new ideas, but this year we've really seen their work take root. Many participating researchers at this season of the Lates will be bringing their work forward to the 2025 Great Exhibition Road Festival, or over to our community sessions at The Invention Rooms at the White City Campus. It's been really rewarding to see how many of these ideas are growing their own legacy outside of the Lates." Mimmi Mårtensson Public Engagement Programmes Coordinator
There was an outbreak of Beaver Fever in the City and Guilds Building, with many lining up to chat with representatives from the Ealing Beaver Project. The scheme has reintroduced beavers to the local environment in Ealing, with their rolling footage of London's newest and furriest residents adding some much-needed cuteness to the night.
Kiacrete - the new, puddle-free pavement technology - drew a big crowd, with visitors lining up to test out the permeable and non-slip surface for themselves. Urban flooding may well be a thing of the past in the cities of the future if pavements are able to absorb rainfall.
The evening (and the Lates season itself!) closed with a dance-along led by Speakerbox Street Party in collaboration with the Helix Centre for Design and Health. Their workshops aimed to explore the health benefits that go hand-in-hand with a boogie.
Their hypothesis certainly proved to be sound; everybody left with a smile on their face after the infectious energy of the mass-participatory street dance. Chatty exercise classes are predicted to be the future of health, giving participants the combined benefits of socialising and movement.
a feast for the senses
This Imperial Lates season kicked off last year on Thursday 5 December, with an evening exploring the sense-sational science behind the five senses.
The night included a talk and screening by artist, Abby Palmer, exploring the link between art and climate change, all through the lens of how her indoor cats experience the weather. Visitors watched clips of Abby's furry friends encountering the rain and wind for the first time, all while learning more about how global warming will affect our senses too.
Meanwhile the Addiction Research Group and Centre for Psychedelic Research had a queue that practically stretched out the door, with people lining up to experience the phenomenon of how the brain will register pain being administered to a rubber hand as if it were their own.
Isobel Jupp from the Musculoskeletal Lab and Lakshmi Iyengar of Bollyqueer teamed up to deliver a Bollywood silent disco that explored mind-body connection, balance and proprioception. Bonus points if you can say 'proprioception' three times, fast!
Weird, wacky and wonderful
Thursday 6 February was Imperial Lates: Weird Science, an eclectic mix of all of the strangest research happening at Imperial College London.
Quantum was the hot topic of the evening, with talks detailing the groundbreaking new science and technology emerging because of Quantum research, as well as a silent disco explaining the ins and outs of its elusive theory. Meanwhile, human consciousness took the victory in a vote for the 'weirdest object in the cosmos', with black holes and quantum particles following close behind.
Insect yoga was a hit with those seeking some peace and quiet, with more crafty forms of mindfulness to be found in workshops creating butterfly carnival costumes and 4D maths valentines cards.
The evening closed with a beautiful display of mushroom ballet: Imperial fungal researcher by day and 'Biology Ballerina' by night, Eleonora Moratto wowed the audience with a breathtaking dance that reflected her research into the use of electric waves to prevent fungal spore infestations in plants.
"I had a wonderful time performing at Imperial Lates: Weird Science. It was an amazing opportunity to showcase my SciArt. As a scientist and ballet dancer I founded The SciBallet Project which aims to use ballet's storytelling abilities to communicate scientific research to the public." - Eleonora Moratto, Research Associate, Department of Bioengineering
Coming up...
Imperial Lates will be returning this autumn, but for now the Public Engagement team is shifting their focus to Imperial's flagship public event, the Great Exhibition Road Festival, returning to South Kensington on 7-8 June! Run in partnership with iconic institutions on and around Exhibition Road – including the National History Museum, Science Museum, V&A, Royal Albert Hall and many more – this year's Festival will host hundreds of free workshops, talks and performances for all ages.
Staff and students volunteers across Imperial College London are vital to the success of the Festival weekend. Want to get involved? Shifts are now open! Click here to find out more and sign up.
