About us

The Big Bang is the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people in the UK. Everything we do is aimed at showing young people just how many exciting and rewarding opportunities there are out there for them with the right experience and qualifications.

Through our national event (The Big Bang Fair) which happens at a different location in March every year, and through a series of regional and local events, we work with partner organisations across business and industry, government and academia to try and give a flavour of the real scale of engineering and science in the UK.

Since we held the first Fair in 2009, we’ve continued to grow so that in 2011 we welcomed over 29,000 people to The Big Bang Fair at London ExCeL. For 2012, we’re planning to be even bigger. From 15 – 17 March, we expect to leave 35,000 people at Birmingham’s NEC amazed at just how exciting engineering and science can be. But it’s about more than thrills. At its heart, The Big Bang is about careers and futures and highlighting the exciting possibilities that exist for young people with science, technology, engineering and maths backgrounds.  It’s about the contribution they, with the right motivation, can make to the UK economy and to society in general.

From meeting inspiring engineers and scientists from some of the biggest and most interesting companies in the UK and through receiving dedicated careers advice, we know that young people go away with a fresh, new perspective on where their school subjects can lead them. The Big Bang is delivered by over 150 organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors. Led by EngineeringUK in partnership with the British Science Association, the Institute of Physics, the Science Council, the Royal Academy of Engineering and Young Engineers, the event is supported by The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as well as numerous sponsors from industry.

For more information about sponsoring The Big Bang 2012, please contact jhalton@engineeringuk.com.

The Big Bang Fair also hosts the finals of the National Science & Engineering Competition. Open to all 11-18 year olds living in the UK and in full-time education, the competition rewards students who have achieved excellence in a science, technology, engineering or maths project. You can find out more about the competition here.

What people are saying about us

Of course, what people say about us is more important that what we say about ourselves. And, it’s all good.  97% of visitors said that they would recommend a visit to The Big Bang Fair and 94% rated it as very good or good.

We’re happy to say that we’ve won the press over too. The Times commented that the teaching of science and engineering subjects was given “a welcome jolt of energy” at The Fair, while BBC Breakfast reported that “When you come to a fun place like this you can start to realise all the fun things you can do with science”.

The Big Bang Fair has been recognised by winning a number of awards. 2011's event won the IVCA LiveCom Best Learning Experience award,  a Highly Commended award for Best UK Live Event in the Charity and Social Enterprise category of the IVCA Clarion Awards and was an Event Awards Finalist. On the PR front, we also achieved a Highly Commended award at the PR Week Awards.

The 2010 event also won a number of awards including gold at the IVCA LiveCom Awards, silver at the IVCA Awards, bronze in the Eventia category of ‘Best experiential event’ and Highly Commended at the IVCA Clarions Award.  

The Big Bang Near Me

As well as the national fair which happens once a year, we have a growing programme of events taking place throughout the year and around the country. These include larger events hosting the National Science & Engineering Competition as well as more local events.

You can find out more and see what’s on near you by visiting www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/nearme.

The Big Bang Fair 2011 on film