Physics at Work and other highlights from the outreach team
Celebrating four decades of inspiring young minds, the Cavendish Laboratory's annual Physics at Work exhibition returned in 2025 with record-breaking attendance and a fresh venue at the Ray Dolby Centre. Alongside highlights from the exhibition, Jacob Breward Butler, Outreach Officer, explores the Cavendish’s expanding outreach to primary schools, new partnerships, and a calendar packed with engaging events.
Physics at Work 2025
In September, over 2000 students from around the UK descended on the Department for our annual Physics at Work exhibition. This year marked several milestones; 40 years since the first exhibition in 1985, the first hosted in the Ray Dolby Centre, and our largest event since the COVID pandemic forced the exhibition online. Physics at Work aims to showcase the variety of careers to which studying physics can lead, and features presentations from groups across industry and academia for 14-16 year-olds – a key age in which students are making choices for their final years in high school and the A-levels they will go on to take.
Initially an Institute of Physics event started in the late 1960s, Mick Brown and Brenda Jennison organised the first Cavendish exhibition in 1985 and it has grown and evolved since then to become the large, successful event it is today. While much has changed in that time, we have had the pleasure of hosting an exhibit from the British Antarctic Survey and students from Norwich High School for Girls at every one of our exhibitions. This year we welcomed new exhibits from Espire Education’s STEM on Track, the National Science Academy, and Nokia, whose presenter was a former Cavendish academic and had previously taken part as a member of his research group.
The new Ray Dolby Centre was a fine venue, allowing us to host larger groups of students and highlighting the world-leading nature of the Cavendish Laboratory. Physics at Work will be taking place again in September next year, and we welcome any expressions of interest from prospective exhibitors.
Primary developments
The new programme of events aimed at primary school students continue to progress, with the first of our experiment packs being loaned to local schools. These boxes contain the equipment, problem sheets, and teacher guides needed to run physics practicals identified as being particularly tricky by our local teacher contacts. Initial feedback has been good, and we will continue to develop a catalogue of packs before rolling them out more widely. Alongside this, we continue to develop our Primary offering and are working on strengthening our connections with schools in and around Cambridge.
Further afield, our partnership with the Atom Valley Education Challenge Consortium and Ogden Trust is continuing into its second year. This programme, “Think like a Scientist”, has primary school students from Rochdale and the surrounding areas develop investigations into questions around sustainability in their local environment. These open-ended projects challenge students to think beyond the curriculum, developing the critical thinking and practical skills needed to succeed in science at secondary school and beyond, and helping to bridge the jump between primary and second education that many students struggle with. This programme forms part of the wider Atom Valley project, which looks to develop the industry, education, and infrastructure of the Greater Manchester area.
Map of the schools that attended Physics at Work 2025
Map of the schools that attended Physics at Work 2025
Map of the schools that attended Physics at Work 2025
Map of the schools that attended Physics at Work 2025
Continuing activities
Now into its 13th year, the Cambridge Physics Experience continues to be well attended and positively reviewed by its attendees. Aiming to dispel misconceptions about university and physics, the programme brings hundreds of students from areas with low uptake to higher education into Cambridge for talks on higher education and curriculum-linked practical sessions in the Cavendish Laboratory. Our series of Cambridge Physics Centre lectures have started, continuing to draw large crowds of keen A-level students each month, and preparations are beginning for our inaugural Cavendish Festival event at the Ray Dolby Centre, which will take place on 21st March next year. Please visit the Outreach website for information on all our activities.
We would also like to share our thanks and best wishes to Nicki Humphry-Baker, who has been the Cavendish Outreach Officer for the last five years, alongside her role in Isaac Science (formerly Isaac Physics). From November, she will be moving to Isaac Science full-time to oversee the growing team there.