About Us
Southampton Arts and Humanities Festival, formerly called Human Worlds Festival, is the University of Southampton's annual celebration of humanities and the arts.
The Festival was first launched in 2014 and runs every year to coincide with Being Human festival, the UK's national celebration of humanities research.
It is a free series of public events, including activities suitable for families, to explore the world of humanities, the arts and beyond. In past years, most events took place at the University of Southampton Avenue Campus, which is home to the School of Humanities, including disciplines such as Archaeology, English, Film, History, Music, Philosophy and Languages, Cultures and Linguistics.
The week of celebrations usually starts/concludes with Arts and Humanities Day, formerly known as Hands-on Humanities Day, a free family-friendly event featuring interactive hands-on activities, workshops, exhibitions and talks from across the School of Humanities and the Winchester School of Art. The programme also includes contributions from other research groups across the university and external contributors such as, local bookstores, schools, community groups, CIC, VCSE, freelance artists, cultural venues and other research institutions. The Festival programme also includes a digital presence online to engage with national and international audiences.
Since its launch, Southampton Arts and Humanities Festival has continued to grow, introducing new events, collaborations, and attracting an increasing number of visitors each year—including the popular Arts and Humanities Day.
Discover the City of Southampton
Southampton Arts and Humanities Festival is organised by the UoS Festival team - part of the Public Engagement with Research unit (PERu) at the University of Southampton - who curate all sides of the event from planning to evaluation, and take pride in delivering the best possible experience to everyone involved, from volunteers to visitors.
Silvia Lanati
Public Engagement Manager
UoS website profile
Kara Goodland
Public Engagement Coordinator
Ben Littlefield
Head of PERu
Lisa Hanley
Deputy Head of PERu
Elizabeth Nutburn
Senior PERu Admin
The UoS Festival team is part of the Public Engagement with Research unit (PERu) at the University of Southampton.
The Public Engagement team enables, connects and inspires high quality mutually beneficial engagement between the university and society.
The team:
- coordinates opportunities to do engagement, from Science and Engineering or Arts and Humanities Festivals, to the Community partnership Hubs;
- designs and delivers training on engagement skills for staff and students, such as communication, partnership working, or evaluation;
- provides expertise, advice and guidance on what high quality Public Engagement could be, how to apply for funding and how to measure its impact;
- curates the cross-institution Public Engagement Network, bringing people together to share successes and challenges;
- brings together people from the University and society, helping to make connections as well as holding strategic relationships with partners;
- provides seed funding and support for Public Engagement projects through development funds and enables the embedding of engagement support and practice across Faculties.
The Public Engagement team’s work is a key part of the University of Southampton's Civic role, delivering activities in partnership with different groups across different themes, from Education, Learning and Future Jobs, and Staff, Students and graduate support and retention to Health and Wellbeing, and to Environment, Sustainability and Biodiversity.
As a signatory of the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE)'s Manifesto for Public Engagement, the University of Southampton is committed to sharing knowledge, resources and skills with the public, and to listening to and learning from the expertise and insight of the different communities with which we engage.
Alongside Southampton Science and Engineering Festival, the UoS Festival team organises other family-friendly events across the year.
Our annual Southampton Science and Engineering Festival is held every March, during British Science Week. The programme includes Science and Engineering Day, a free family-friendly event, with 100+ interactive hands-on activities, workshops, exhibits, talks, shows and laboratory tours.
The UoS Festival team is also behind the University of Southampton Bringing Research to Life Roadshow, which contributes to local community events across the summer, including, e.g. Southampton Mela Festival, the New Forest and Hampshire County Show and Southampton Pride.
