National Science Week has a way of turning ordinary Tuesdays into something a bit stranger than usual, and this year’s Sydney program is no exception.
Between 15 and 23 August 2026, the festival — one of the country’s largest, drawing more than 3 million participants across over 2,500 events last year — brings together everything from virtual reality sports psychology demonstrations in Toowoomba to guided tours of a secret underground mushroom farm somewhere in the Sydney CBD. It’s the kind of program where a family can genuinely not know what they’re walking into, in the best way.
One of the standout dates on the Sydney calendar falls at Chatswood’s Concourse on Tuesday 18 August, where Sydney Quantum Academy is running Quantum Future Talent: From Curiosity to Career — a free, all-ages event that doesn’t require a science background to enjoy. Check-in opens at 9.30am and the program runs to 2.00pm, with pre-registration essential given last year’s event sold out entirely.
For families weighing up how to spend a school day, the appeal isn’t just the novelty of “quantum” as a buzzword. There are hands-on demonstrations designed for people who’ve never touched a physics textbook, plus the chance to talk directly to current quantum students and researchers about what the field is actually like day to day — a rarer offering than it sounds, since most science outreach tends to talk at attendees rather than let them ask their own questions.
The headline drawcard is Scientia Professor Andrea Morello from UNSW Sydney, whose session promises to be accessible rather than academic, covering how quantum technology could touch everyday life through computing, cybersecurity, communications and even new medicines. Alongside him, Questacon exhibition developer Michaela Ripper will introduce Quantum Tomorrow: Imagined Futures, a new immersive exhibition getting one of its first Sydney showings at the event.
There’s a bigger economic story sitting underneath the family-day-out framing, too. CSIRO estimates Australia’s quantum workforce could reach more than 19,400 people by 2045, worth around $6 billion to the economy — numbers that explain why universities including the University of Sydney, UNSW Sydney, Macquarie University and UTS are turning up alongside Questacon, Einstein First, the Australian Institute of Physics, Eigensystems and ANSTO, with more exhibitors still being locked in.
It’s a fitting note for a festival that’s been running since 1997 and has only grown louder every year. Whether a visitor leaves Chatswood thinking about a physics degree or just enjoyed an unusually interesting Tuesday, that seems to be exactly the point of the week — curiosity first, career pathways for those who want to keep going.
National Science Week 2026 is proudly supported by the Australian Government, alongside partners Questacon, CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association and ABC Science. The Chatswood event itself is delivered through a National Science Week grant. Full listings for the national program, including registration for the Chatswood event, are at www.scienceweek.net.au.
