Get hands-on with experiments and demonstrations, meeting friendly experts and inventors at this IF Oxford zone.

See some of the most exciting science and meet the best and friendliest inventors in town. Try out dozens of interactive activities and demonstrations.

For one hour, from 11am, EXPLORAZONE is open just for adults and children within the autistic spectrum or with other neurodivergent conditions, and for families who need a quieter, less-crowded space to join the researchers and explore and discuss science and ideas.

Please help IF Oxford keep track of venue capacity by booking your approximate arrival time. You can arrive at any time during your hour-long arrival slot, then stay for as long as you like.

Event format: HANDS-ON INTERACTIVE ZONE

Age: 7–12 yrs, Teenage, Adult

Typical visit time: 1.5–2 hours

Event duration: 6 hours

Event start: 11am, last entry 4pm

Ticketing: Pay What You Decide (PWYD)

Activities include:

The Potential of Potentials: discover how heat, chemistry and motion can all be turned into electricity, and get hands-on with experimental devices that reveal the hidden physics of energy conversion.

Finding Diamonds Everywhere: discover diamonds in everyday life, from mobile phones and car parts to advanced sensors and quantum computing. Slice through ice and glass while talking to scientists developing diamond technology.

Air Pollution and Brain Health: see amazing images, and piece together puzzles to see how tiny particles in the air may reach and affect the brain. Meet researchers uncovering potential links to dementia.

Cutting Edge Science: try your hand at the skills behind knee surgery and discover how medical trials really work, as you explore cutting-edge research into joints, muscles, bones and the immune system.

Why You Are What You Eat: discover how the food you eat helps your body move, grow and fight infections. Explore important roles iron and sugar play in your body, from carrying oxygen in your blood to powering your cells.

Levitating Superconductors: discover the cool world of cryogenics and explore the low-temperature technology behind superconducting magnets, from levitating objects on a racetrack to powering quantum computers and MRI scanners, all invented, developed and made right here in Oxfordshire.

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IF Oxford uses Pay What You Decide (PWYD) ticketing, which means you can choose to pay whatever you want – or can afford. You can make your donation during booking, at the event, or afterwards. Please note, there is a free ticket option with this event.

We suggest a donation of £7.50. If even half of IF Oxford's visitors gave that, the charity could plan next year's community science and ideas Festival with confidence. If you decide another amount works better for you, give that instead — every contribution helps keep the Festival free at the point of entry for everyone who needs it to be.

All ticket options offer the same access. The contribution associated with this ticket is considered a donation in support of the Festival. Please choose the amount that feels right for you.

Ages are a guide only, under-16s to be accompanied by a responsible adult.

The Festival reserves the right to modify event formats and manage the audience in accordance with the Festival's Attendance Policy:

if-oxford.com/attendance-policy

IF Oxford is run by The Oxfordshire Science Festival (charity #1151361) and your donation may be eligible for Gift Aid, where a charity can claim back an extra 25% of your donation at no cost to you.

Description supplied by the event organiser.