Zone ONE

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

Zone ONE brings hands-on science, creative and technology activities to Oxford North, in a large interactive area overlooking Fallaize Park and its planets, a perfect backdrop for a cosmos of 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: All ages
Typical visit time: 1.5–2 hours
Event duration: 5 hours 30 minutes
Event start: 2pm, last entry 6pm
Ticketing: Pay What You Decide (PWYD)

Parking: on-site parking available

Activities include:

What on Earth?: compare the sky through earth and space-based telescopes, then hold real pieces of asteroids, comets and even the Moon, and find out what they reveal about the solar system.

AstroFun with Time-Travelling Star Explorers!: zoom through a river of stars with 17th-century sky-watchers Johannes and Elisabeth Hevelius from Gdańsk, spotting planets, solving cosmic puzzles and map the heavens.

Scrambled Verse: get started with poetry fast and create your own verses in minutes with cut-out words and phrases that sound lyrically right — or beautifully wrong.

The Tamarind Galaxy: explore stories of planets, moons and stars through puzzles, tall tales and role play, drawing on astronomical traditions from across Africa and the constellations they named in the night sky.

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.

Drone Football: take the controls and fly a drone through an obstacle course, finding out how drones sense, balance and navigate, and where they are put to work in science and industry.

Fusion Fix It: get stuck in with robotics engineers to diagnose and repair robots using real tools and engineering logic. Find out what it takes to keep fusion robots running and pick up practical skills along the way.

The Architect’s Vision: discover the Oxford North masterplan and see how designs go from first sketch to finished building, with models, drawings and the thinking behind a new city district. Try making your own masterplan.

Build with Hill: stack and arrange soft bricks into creative shapes and structures, while discovering how new homes at Canalside Quarter are designed, built and fitted into the wider neighbourhood.

The Chemistry of Colour: discover the captivating world of coloured glass and its origins in metallurgy, minerals and mining. Extract your own metals and uncover the chemical secrets behind vibrant hues in glass.

Colour and light: meet a stained glass maker and see how glass is cut, leaded and assembled by hand. Discover how medieval craftspeople achieved their brilliant blues and reds.

Orbit: join performers for a guided outdoor digital journey around a landmark planetary sculpture, gathering stories from eight planets as Fallaize Park becomes a walkable map of the Solar System.

Taylors café: delicious sandwiches, salads, freshly made pasta, sweet treats and speciality coffees served throughout the Zone ONE event, in The Red Hall, Oxford North, OX2 8GE.

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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 that there is a free ticket option for this event.

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). Any voluntary donation you make may be eligible for Gift Aid, where a charity can claim back an extra 25% of your donation at no cost to you:
if-oxford.com/donate