About

In 1996 the New Zealand International Science Festival charitable trust was established in Dunedin to present a science festival. The organisation's mission is to inspire and engage people of all ages and backgrounds about the importance science plays in our daily lives and the positive difference it makes.

We aim to ensure that quality science education is accessible and affordable. We cultivate a wider awareness of science to the general public, inspiring them by its wonder and engaging them with its implications for the future.

Since our inaugural festival in 1998, the festival has engaged over 250,000 participants across Aotearoa, New Zealand, celebrating all areas of science, from the mysterious outer limits of the universe to the marvelous inner workings of robotics, with all the weird, wacky, weighty and wonderful stuff in between. The festival features guests from wider New Zealand and abroad alongside amazing local talent, transforming Dunedin into a city alive with science.


Festival Management

Executive Committee

Angela Clark, President
Wendy Swainson, Treasurer
Judith Bateup
Michele Coleman
Suzi Flack 
Mike Harte
Bridget Irving
Peter Jones
Helen Nicholson
Caroline Orchiston
Daniel Pritchard
Gianna Savoie

Patrons

Dame Juliet Gerrard
Vice-Chancellor, University of Otago
His Worship Mayor of Dunedin Jules Radich

Staff

Jerome Cousins, Director
Andrea Liberatore, Associate Director

Life Members

Jean Fleming
Dame Elizabeth Hanan
Mike Harte
Michele Coleman
Wai Piggott
George Petersen (deceased)