After two years of hosting Scifest Africa virtually, South Africa’s national science festival is returning to its live format in Makhanda from 7 – 13 September 2022!

We are pleased to announce our first batch of exciting local and international presenters coming to Scifest Africa 2022!

Combining art and science, Thandiwe Sekhibane from Nna Le Bokamoso Science and Arts Academy will bring an engaging interactive workshop “Hail Queen Modjadji!” which will teach African and modern science concepts through dance and water. Queen Modjadji in African lore is believed to have special powers, including the ability to control the clouds and rainfall. 

Founder and President of the Fun and Education Global Network Kenneth Monjero, better known as Dr. Fun, will be coming in from the Children’s Science Centre Kenya with a workshop about vaccines and the fight against Covid using balloons and liquid nitrogen! He will also give a lecture on the Covid Pandemic as an opportunity of change through the Virtual Global Network that it developed. 

The Kitchen Chemist, Dr Stephen Ashworth from the University of East Angilia, UK will present two exciting workshops – one on the importance of plastic and polymers with SLIME!; and the other on forensic science, where learners will be challenged to find out whether the lab they have discovered is making fake tablets. Dr Ashworth will also host an original show that offers an entertaining window to chemistry, in particular chemistry that goes on all around us. Using readily available materials and simple equipment, he will give a look at chemistry that you can do at home.

We have partnered with the Split Second Science Education Foundation which will be bringing the J&J CanDo Robotics Workshop to Scifest Africa. This is a hands-on workshop that will provide the basic skills needed to use the CanDo Cube (a state-of-the-art robotics platform) and challenge the learners with a real-world problem by asking them to create a possible solution that would work. The focus would not be on the viability of the solution but rather on the creative process followed.

Last but certainly not least, prepare yourself for some seriously mind-bending science, as festival favourite, Dr Graham Walker from The Australian National University explodes his way through the chemistry and physics of things that go bubble, boom, bang and occasionally catch on fire in “Dr Graham’s Blow-Up Science Show”.

Regular festival contributors will also be back, including SANSA, Amathole Museum, Professor Jean Greyling, Cape Town Science Centre, FOSST Discovery Centre, as well as some exciting new contributors to be announced next month! And of course, our famous LASER SHOW will be back!

We are currently accepting applications to present in our workshop programme, events and exhibitions. The deadline for final submissions is Monday, 8 August 2022. More information on the process can be found at https://www.scifest.org.za/presenter-information/

The full programme will be released electronically at www.scifest.org.za mid-August.

Please do not hesitate to contact Steph Dvorak at media@scifest.org.za should you require any additional information. We look forward to welcoming you to our celebration of science!