Manchester is the city where Marx met Engels and Rolls met Royce. Similarly ESOF 2016 will be a meeting of minds, bringing together many of the world’s foremost scientific thinkers, innovators and scholars. Capitalising on Manchester’s unique history as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution the theme for ESOF 2016 has been announced as ‘science as revolution’.

ESOF 2016 will comprise a number of distinct programme tracks:

• A science programme of seminars, workshops and debates on the latest research and related policy issues, structured around a programme of keynote speakers and the latest scientific issues. The call for proposals is now open.

• A science-to-business programme to explore the major issues for research within business and industry and the role of universities for business.

• A career programme showcasing career opportunities across Europe and beyond for researchers at all stages of their careers.
An exhibition that showcases the best of European academic, public and private research.
A forum to host other meetings, satellite events and networking opportunities (e.g. science policy advisers and science media)


There are nine core themes running through the science programme, spanning particle physics to pandemics, antimicrobial resistance to artificial intelligence and the Anthropocene epoch. The nine themes are:

• Healthy populations

• Material dimensions

• Sustaining the environment

• Turing’s legacy - data and the human brain

• Far frontiers

• Living in the Future

• Bio-revolution

• Science for policy and policy for science

• Science in our cultures