Faculty of Pharmacy is all set for SciFest 2025

On 9 October, Uppsala University and SLU open the doors to SciFest, the science festival that every year attracts more than 8,000 curious of all ages to the Fyrishov exhibition halls. Over three intensive days, a smorgasbord filled with hands-on activities, workshops, shows and competitions awaits. Of course, the Faculty of Pharmacy has a team on site and ready to inspire the pharmaceutical experts of the future.

“Our faculty consistently prioritizes our outreach work to stimulate children and teen's interest in knowledge and education, which makes SciFest an incredibly important arena for us. That we over the years have tuned a festival concept that guarantees both long queues and enthusiastic visitors makes it one of the highlights of the year for our employees as well,” says Erik Nylander, project manager for the faculty's program at SciFest.

This year, the faculty's stands offer a mix of approved favorites and exciting surprises. Here, visitors can compete in building drug molecules and win much coveted goodie bags, try to match the right drug with different diseases or why not embark on a Virtual Reality adventure among molecules and proteins.

“Our ambition is to give every guest a fun time and inspiration to learn more about pharmaceutical drugs. To maximize the experience, we are currently preparing a brand new activity that gives everone the chance to try out life as a researcher. If we can just get it ready in time for this year's SciFest, I dare say we'll raise the bar for our stand yet another level,” says Erik Nylander.

For visitors who wish to learn about more than pharmaceuticals, SciFest offers plenty of experiences to explore. Among a total of 75 stands, you can try controlling robot hands, building batteries out of vegetables, creating AI-generated Pokémon and anything else imaginable. Of course, you will also meet some of Sweden's absolute top researchers, and Friday 10 October, our own sleep expert Christian Benedict will join to answer young people's questions about late night habits.

“I am truly looking forward to meeting the students and the opportunity to arouse their interest in sleep. Children and young people are both curious, creative and communicative, so I expect to face several thought-provoking questions. My ambition is to highlight everything that is positive about sleep, to give them the tools to make sleep their own superpower and, above all, to do so completely without styluses,” says Christian Benedict, Professor of Pharmacology.

For many young visitors, SciFest represents an exciting first encounter with research and pharmacy, but certainly not the last. “Exploring bacteria and proteins is a completely new experience and something I can definitely imagine studying at university,” says Oscar in grade 6 who visited the Faculty of Pharmacy stand at last year’s festival. “Putting molecules together is a bit difficult but above all super fun,” adds Ilon in grade 5 at Liljeforsskolan.

“SciFest is simply a fantastic meeting place for researchers and pupils alike. Few things are as inspiring as seeing the enthusiasm when a child suddenly discovers how fun research can be. Of course, we also hope to sow a seed regarding all the important work that pharmacists do. Who knows, maybe we’ll meet them again in a few years as students at our Bachelor or Master of Science programmes,” says Erik Nylander.

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text: Magnus Alsne, photo: SciFest, private