Physics Busking is a national STEM Education programme, initiated in 2005 and dedicated to increasing STEM public engagement and education through a yearlong calendar of public engagement events and science communication workshops. Working in collaboration with leading national festival and event organisers, the Physics Busking team of researchers, teachers and enthusiasts bring STEM demos and activities to the shopping streets, gardens and fields of Ireland. Our “busking performances” involve interactive experiments and demonstrations selected for maximum engagement, excitement and education.  Based on the traditional stall-type mode of busking (street entertainment), our performances can be tailored to suit almost any event.

Upcoming Physics Busking events for 2016 include Bloom in the Phoenix, Park, Festival of Curiosity, Dublin Maker, National Ploughing Championships, Mallow Maths and Science Festival, Galway Science and Technology fair and several events during national Science Week. New members are invited to join our busking team to contribute to these events and to come along to one of our free science communication workshops.  In these workshops, you will get a chance to meet some of our experienced buskers and see them in action, as they show you some of their favourite science demonstrations.  Then with props and support, you will get the chance to develop your individual style for showing and communicating science. Workshops are advertised during the year. Places are open to science teachers, researchers and other science enthusiasts. Please visit http://physicsbusking.ie/, @PhysicsBusking or email physicsbusking@gmail.com for further details.

Physics Busking is an education and public engagement national collaboration led by Eilish McLoughlin at CASTeL at Dublin City University and Paul Nugent Institute of Physics in Ireland. Physics Busking has been supported by the Science Foundation Ireland Discover funding since 2014.