Science Rendezvous

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UBC is proud to host Science Rendezvous, a free family festival that takes science out of the lab and on to the street. Join us on Saturday, May 9, 2026 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for a day of hands-on, family friendly science activities!

Festival-goers of all ages will get a chance to meet world-class researchers and innovators, participate in hands-on experiments, and see amazing scientific demonstrations on UBC's Vancouver campus. There is a Google map with all venues at the bottom of this page. The event is evolving as we add more presentations so please check back for updates on times and locations.

ACTIVITIES

Making waves
Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Observe the basics of oceanography, atmospheric sciences, geochemistry and more fascinating fields using real lab equipment, such as wave tanks and shake tables. Participate in interactive demonstrations with our educational outreach team, and submit a question to an Earth scientist to enter a prize giveaway!
All ages

Mysterious minerals: a hidden world
Earth and Ocean Sciences Main, 6339 Stores Road
Join Pacific Museum of Earth staff in a mineralogical deep dive with real museum specimens. View crystals under the microscope, see how they glow in ultraviolet light, and test their various properties in a few easy steps. Learn how to recognize some common minerals and gems, so that you can identify your own finds.
All ages

Geering Up
Neville Scarfe Building, Room 100
UBC Geering Up hosts an engineering hub with a variety of interactive demonstrations of the team's innovative design projects.
All ages 

Mitigation magic
Kaiser Building
Learn how engineers and scientists protect communities from landslides, rockfalls, flooding, and erosion. Trigger a simulated rockfall or landslide to see how different mitigation strategies perform under varying conditions.

Fungus among us
Neville Scarfe Building atrium
Bring your own mushrooms, lichens, molds to add to our display of some of Vancouver's crazy spring fungi! Learn how to recognize the poisonous death cap mushroom and to appreciate the ecological roles of fungi.
All ages 

Computer science
Earth Sciences Building atrium
A variety of interactive demonstrations and games that demonstrate to children—and their parents—fun ways of learning math and computer science concepts. 

Math mania
Forest Sciences Centre atrium
A variety of interactive demonstrations, puzzles, games and art such as soap bubbles, 'get your goat' (Monty Hall game), the penny game, the Set Game, the 'Game of 24', kaleidoscopes, Tower of Hanoi, and other paradoxes.

Science alumni booth
Earth Sciences Building atrium 
All Science alumni are invited to stop by between 10:00 and 2:00 to enter a contest for a chance to win a $200 Vancouver Water Adventures gift card. Kids can get in on the fun too by spinning the prize wheel for a special treat. 

TRIUMF - Canada’s particle accelerator centre      
Earth Sciences Building
Demonstrations include a Geiger counter and active radiation sour materials, and microwave plasma. See a superconductor levitating over a magnetic track after being cooled to a low temperature using liquid nitrogen.
Ages: High school students, but younger students may enjoy watching too.

Hands-on chemistry activities
Chemistry Building D block, rooms D211 and D213
A space for kids to grab chemistry by the hand in a safe environment where they’ll learn while doing simple yet fascinating chemistry experiments. Play with non-newtonian fluids, make your own slime, take home a lava lamp!
10:30 - 2:30

Liquid nitrogen ice cream
Chemistry Building D block, room D200
Sample some of the smoothest ice cream on Earth, made right before-your-eyes! Using the UBC Chemistry “top secret” synthesis, ice cream will be served in a variety of flavours with a new batch made every hour!
10:30, 11:15, noon, 12:45, 1:30, 2:15
Ages: Kindergarten to Grade 7

Computer science game development
Forestry Building atrium
Astrolander is a revolutionary action-packed reimagining of platformer games. Embark on a thrilling adventure featuring innovative 2.5D fused with 3D environments and gameplay, unique mechanics, and breathtaking worlds.

Pump it up: Heart edition!
Neville Scarfe atrium
Learn about the heart through an interactive educational presentation focused on heart anatomy, course of blood flow, and the heart’s electrical system. Follow “Marty,” a red blood cell, as he enters the heart and lungs, and is later pumped out to different organs throughout the body.

Blusson Quantum Physics Institute activities
Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute

• Crystal growth lab 
  The beautiful crystals found in nature represent only a tiny fraction of what’s possible using all the elements on the periodic table. The Hallas Lab designs and grows crystals not found in nature, particularly materials with strong quantum mechanical effects, giving rise to exotic magnetic and electronic properties.
• Ultrafast spectroscopy lab 
  Find out how lasers can help make mining of critical minerals more sustainable.
• Scanning tunnelling microscopy 
  See how the Laboratory for Atomic Imaging Research probes the quantum world, exploring materials that may hold the key to next-generation quantum technologies.
• Quantum levitation track demo
  Witness the spectacular science of quantum levitation! In this demo, a superconducting puck is locked in place by magnetic flux lines and defies gravity by floating above a magnetic track.  
• Quantum materials lab

Michael Smith Labs activities
2185 West Mall

• Race to immunity    
  Learn how to make lipid nanoparticle vaccine formulations, but pressure’s on—there’s an outbreak and we need your help!
• Biochemistry and molecular biology in action
  Create the colours of the rainbow and learn about how cabbage can be used to determine pH. Use science techniques to test which colour dye moves the fastest! See yourself as a scientist, complete with lab coat and beakers in our photo both.
• Science you can feel! Discover biomaterials!    
  Learn about what a biomaterial is and its applications in the biomedical field. Take home your own (bio-ish) material!
• DNA matching puzzle     
  In this interactive game you will learn about the concept of DNA alignment and its application in identifying viruses and bacteria just from their molecular fingerprint. Through levels with increasing difficulties you will learn why scientists usually don't do DNA alignment by hand.
• Mission: deliver the medicine    
  In this hands on challenge, you’ll become a targeted medicine delivery expert on a mission to help tiny “nanoparticles” reach the right cells. Along the way, you’ll discover how real scientists design smart medicines that know exactly where to go in the body.
• Where’s Waldo with Yeast?    
  Become a scientist searching through a huge crowd of yeast cells to find the one making the most protein. It’s a fun, hands-on activity that shows how researchers discover tiny superstars in big biological experiments!
• DNA extraction workshop    
  Ever wondered what the blueprint of "you" actually looks like? In this hands-on workshop become a molecular biologist for the day and extract your very own DNA using simple ingredients found in your kitchen! No lab coat required!
• Filtration Chromatography Column    
  Ever wish you could pull exactly what you want out of a messy mix—like finding a needle in a haystack without the hassle? Build your own filtration column and put it to the test—can you separate the mix and grab the candy you’re after? Sweet science has never been this fun!

SHOWS 

Science show with Geering Up 
Neville Scarfe Building, Room 100
Get ready to be amazed by the wonders of STEM featuring exciting experiments. Please note: some experiments may have loud noises or feature flames. We'll always give a warning before it happens, but keep this in mind for your littlest ones. 
11:30, 1:30
All ages

Chemistry demonstrations
Watch chemists bring the stage to life with quantum dots and liquid fireworks. Learn about cool materials, their unexpected properties, and where you find them in your everyday life. Experience the energy of different types of fuels on stage. Did you know that gummy bears can growl when they oxidize? 
Tickets are required for Fun with Colours and Fun with Fuels. These demonstrations are free but you must register separately for each show on Eventbrite (links coming soon) so we can prevent overcrowding. Click on the times below to register for a specific experiment.
All ages 

SCIENCE TALKS

Black holes
Hennings Building, room 201
Black holes are the suckiest things in the universe! They’re also extremely puzzling: mysterious and hard to see, yet also very common. Join us to learn about how black holes are born, how they develop and how they die. We will also learn some fun facts like what would happen if we fell into one. Includes demo that kids can touch after the talk.
10:00-11:00, 11:00-noon

Stellar evolution
Hennings Building, room 201
Astronomers believe the universe may contain a septillion stars (imagine a “1” with 24 zeros)! We have approximately one billion stars in our Milky Way at various stages in their very long life cycles. What different kinds of stars are out there? How long do they live? And most importantly, what happens when they die? 
2:00-3:00

Laser pulses and how we use them to find out more about rocks
Earth Sciences Building, room 1013
Analyzing the light that reaches us from the sun was one of the first indicators that different elements in the periodic table can take up—or absorb—different colors of light. This talk will introduce basic properties of light, then explain how ultrashort laser pulses are used to detect highly sought-after elements, like lithium or cobalt in mined rocks.
11:00

Wandering around Wonderland: How to not get lost in hyperbolic space
Earth Sciences Building, room 1013
Join us for a journey into the topsy-turvy world of Hyperbolic Space, a mathematical "Wonderland" where nothing is quite what it seems! In this world, the rules of geometry are turned upside down; "straight" lines curve, triangles look strangely skinny, and everything seems to shrink as it moves toward the edge of the world.
1:00

Dating rocks and remediating the environment
Earth Sciences Building, 1013
Learn about the wide availability of particle beams at TRIUMF that are providing new opportunities for very unique studies of minerals and human-made materials.
2:00

MUSEUMS

Pacific Museum of Earth
6339 Stores Road / 2207 Main Mall
Explore the PME and discover the wonders of our dynamic planet. Tour 4.5 billion years through Earth's history, touch a real dinosaur bone, interact with dazzling minerals and gems, learn about climate and natural disasters, and gaze at hundreds of scientific maps and animations on our unique OmniGlobe. Our hands-on exhibits open up learning for everyone!

Beaty Biodiversity Museum
2212 Main Mall
Explore the university’s spectacular biological collections, with 20,000 square feet of exhibits, from insects to birds! Among our two million treasured specimens is a 26-metre-long blue whale skeleton, dinosaur trackways from B.C.’s early Cretaceous period, and myriad fossils, mammals, reptiles, and plants from around the planet. Receive 25% off general admission rates on Saturday, May 9.
All ages, children must be accompanied at all times.

Venue map

The locations are close together.