Beaker Street Festival: Entering Its Second Act In 2026
Dr Margo Adler’s journey into science revealed something unexpected: scientists weren’t the inaccessible experts many people imagine - they were curious, passionate storytellers with ideas worth sharing. That shift in perspective became the seed for Tasmania’s annual Beaker Street Festival, now celebrating 10 years of conversation, creativity and connection.
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Dr Margo Adler (image: Fred and Hannah)
For Dr Margo Adler, science isn’t the exclusive domain of a group of white coat-wearing, pipette-wielding professors hidden away in laboratories. As Founder, CEO and Creative Director at Beaker Street - a cultural organisation producing year-round science and art experiences all over Lutruwita/Tasmania - Margo has made it her mission to bring science to the masses.
A late adopter of the discipline herself, Margo left behind an early career in journalism to study neuroscience, initially intending to specialise in animal psychology. Several personal and vocational pivots later, she found herself with a Masters in conservation biology, a PhD in evolutionary biology - and an unexpected passion not just for science, but for sharing it beyond the confines of academia.
“The deeper into this world that I got, the more I realised that scientists were actually really approachable and genuinely loved talking about their work,” Margo says. “I became motivated to give science’s bad reputation a makeover, so that the public could connect with it more organically.”
First, there was Wine Club - an appealingly-named weekly get-together inviting fellow PhD candidates to bring a bottle of wine, big ideas and pretty pictures in lieu of data. Then there was the slew of Australian and international conferences, where the keynotes and presentations seemed to be consistently upstaged by the conversations happening in and around them.
“The best bits were the breaks, where you’d get all of these interesting people together in a pub, and a spark of an idea becomes a conversation that anyone could be a part of,” Margo reflects.
Margo’s own idea - a science bar where local communities could engage with scientists over no-pressure conversation - had begun to take serious shape. And, with more scientists per capita than any other Australian capital city, Hobart was the natural place to bring the concept to life. By 2017, though, that science bar concept had morphed into the first Beaker Street Festival, supported by a National Science Week grant, and welcoming an unprecedented five thousand guests over three nights.
“We moved down here from Sydney, and immediately felt it was the right place to start Beaker Street, which - at that time - was just me running some workshops and in-conversation talks with visiting scientists, and trying to pull together that first festival,” Margo says. “I had no idea what I was doing, but Hobart’s scientific community was so receptive and keen to be involved, and it ended up being a massive event.”
Beaker Street Festival (image: Oi Studios)
This year, Beaker Street celebrates a decade of its now-annual festival, with a two-week program of field trips, performance, talks, live music, and food experiences, timestamped around two distinct weekend highlights - the Antarctica-inspired waterfront takeover Hobartica (6-9 August), and the Festival Epicentre across a number of Hobart’s inner-city institutions (14-16 August).
“We’re marking the festival’s 10th anniversary with the theme of ‘The Second Act’ - the idea that we want to keep on reinventing, but also bring back some of our favourite elements over the years,” Margo says. “We also feel that this moment in time marks a kind of second act for humanity, and much of our program explores how we’re interacting with the world, with technology and AI, and other concepts that are scientific at their core.”
Having garnered a growing base of local and visiting fans alike over the past decade, this year’s Beaker Street Festival program has already chalked up a number of sell-outs, but there’s still plenty to get along to, from free precinct activations and museum exhibitions, to ticketed workshops, live music and expert talks.
But, with dozens of events across the festival’s two-week run, choosing where to start can be half the challenge. We asked Margo to share a handful of the highlights that best capture the breadth and imagination of Beaker Street Festival’s tenth birthday.
Friday 14 - Sunday 16 and Wednesday 19 - Sunday 23 August, 10am - 4pm
The Barn at Rosny Farm
“This is my favourite exhibition from over the years, on a much bigger scale than we’ve done it before,” Margo says.
“Sarah Lloyd is one of the world’s leading experts on slime moulds, which are these beautiful tiny organisms that you can find all over the place, but most people don’t see them. She’s discovered more than 130 species of slime mould on her own property in northern Tasmania, and this year’s exhibition will include many of the collections that she’s painstakingly collected and preserved, as well as her incredible photography.”
Slime Mould (image: Sarah Lloyd)
Saturday 15 August, 5pm
Hobart City Hall
“One of our most loved experts from a few festivals ago, we’re bringing back Dr Paul Liknaitzky, who directs Australia’s first and largest clinical psychedelic research program, ” Margo says.
“Our culture is having a second act with psychedelics - they’ve been used forever by Indigenous people, then western society started to embrace them in the 1960s, before the ‘war on drugs’ essentially put a pause on research in this area for half a century. They’re coming back into conversation now, and the scientific world is discovering their incredible therapeutic benefits. This year, Dr Paul is bringing along someone who’s gone through one of his clinical trials to talk about her lived experience of psychedelic-assisted therapy.”
TASTE OF COUNTRY: PALAWA FINE DINING & CULTURAL TOUR
Saturday 8 August, 11:30am - 2:30pm
Piyura Kitina/Risdon Cove
“This year’s festival features a really phenomenal program of Indigenous knowledge, much of which sold out quickly over multiple sessions,” Margo says. “There’s still a very limited number of tickets left for the first Taste of Country session, which explores the flavours of Country with a beautiful six-course dining experience including oysters, abalone, wallaby, mutton bird and a bush tucker dessert.”
Thursday 6 - Sunday 9 August, 5pm - 9:30pm
Mawson Place, Hobart Waterfront
“Hobartica has been a part of the festival for a few years, but we’re totally reinventing it for our tenth birthday,” Margo says. “We’ll have an Antarctic Night Market with interactive geodesic domes, celestial concerts, and the invitation to become a true Hobartican by taking the Polar Plunge Challenge in near-freezing water in the midst of everything.
“On the Friday and Saturday nights, we’re asking everyone to dress up as Antarctic explorers for the Stowaway Nerdy Nightclub. It’s all about using the dance floor as a way to meet new people and start interesting conversations.”
Hobartica (image: Oi Studios)
Friday 14 - Sunday 16 August
Hobart City Hall, Hope & Anchor, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Market Place
“The Festival Epicentre takes in the Main Stage program of expert conversations, the After Dark program at TMAG, and the Roving Scientist Bar which takes over Hope & Anchor’s second floor and invites guests to chat with scientists over a drink,” Margo says.
“We’re also hosting a weekend-long street party at Market Place, including a real wedding on the Sunday, with the couple embarking on their own ‘second act’. I ran into ABC Radio Hobart Breakfast host Ryk Goddard and his fiance Mylinda Purtell at Dark Mofo last year, and they mentioned how hard it had been to find a wedding venue, so I suggested getting married at Beaker Street Festival instead.
“The event will start with a conversation with neuroscientist Dr Matt Kirkcaldie about brain plasticity and the science of starting over and reinventing yourself, and then the wedding party will arrive, and the ceremony will kick off. Friend or stranger, everyone’s invited to stay for the party - there will be plenty of cake, a live band, and dancing.
“This is what Beaker Street has always been about - these real, in-person experiences that connect people with science, ideas and each other.”
