Volunteer at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2025

Royal Society; Greater London; On-site; GBP 10,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job description

Job Scope

The Royal Society is looking for reliable and highly motivated volunteers to be part of the 2025 Summer Science Exhibition, taking place on 1 – 6 July 2025 in London.

The Summer Science Exhibition is the Society’s flagship event, attracting thousands of visitors over the course of 6 days. This year, we have thirteen fantastic flagship exhibits and many more interactive activities, talks and workshops for families. It showcases the most exciting cutting-edge science and technology research from across the UK and provides a unique opportunity for members of the public to chat to scientists and ask them questions about their work.

With so much going on, we rely on our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to ensure the success of this event. We are looking for people who are happy to engage in a wide variety of tasks, have good team working skills, are comfortable talking to the public, have an interest in science and, above all, are enthusiastic.

The exhibition takes place 1 – 6 July. Working hours are flexible although we would usually expect volunteers to commit to at least 8 hours across one or more days of the exhibition. Although this volunteering opportunity offers ideal experience for someone looking to get involved in science public engagement or events management, we are also keen to hear from those who are simply passionate about science.

Diversity and inclusion are an essential part of the Royal Society’s mission to recognise, promote and support excellence in science, and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity.

Applications are welcome from everybody regardless of the characteristics they possess, protected or otherwise. We are dedicated to equal opportunity and work diligently to mitigate bias in our processes.

All selected volunteers will complete a DBS check, paid for by the Royal Society.

In return for your time, you will learn new skills, meet some of the world’s leading scientists and get the opportunity to go behind the scenes at this prestigious event, which has been in existence for nearly two centuries. The exhibition is always a busy time at the Royal Society, but it is also a very fun and rewarding event to work on, and successful applicants will get the opportunity to volunteer at other events throughout the year should they wish to.

Tasks during the exhibition will include:

• Interacting with the public, greeting visitors and responding to queries
• Briefing school groups and teachers visiting the exhibition
• Staffing the information desk
• Being the friendly face of the Society, welcoming thousands of our enthusiastic visitors
• Supporting feedback of the event through observations and data reporting
• Administrative tasks including evaluation and monitoring emails.

Volunteers will be given a full day of training prior to the exhibition, scheduled for Thursday 12 June 2025, 10.00am - 4.30pm at the Royal Society in London. You will need to be available to attend this training session in order to qualify as a volunteer for the Exhibition.

We will cover travel expenses for both the training day and the exhibition days and provide meals and refreshments during exhibition opening times. Volunteers must be aged 18 or over and no longer in full time secondary education.

Next steps

If you are interested, please submit a CV and cover letter by Thursday22 May 2025.

In your cover letter please answer the below questions:

1 - What do you hope to gain from your volunteering experience at Summer Science 2025?

2 – Are you available on the Thursday 12 June for training?

3 - Which of the following dates are you available for volunteering?

• Tuesday 1 July
• Wednesday 2 July
• Thursday 3 July
• Friday 4 July
• Saturday 5 July
• Sunday 6 July

4 - Do you have an eligible DBS certificate dated issued in the last 12 months?

For more information, please email [e-mail].