Renee Watson tells why the Oxfordshire Science Festival will be sparking the imaginations of all ages

I know you are just dying to have a go. That every morning since Christmas you have been waiting for March.

I know… it is hard to control your excitement when the Oxfordshire Science Festival is just about here. But before you gorge yourself on two weeks of fascinating facts , diverting discussions and entertaining experiments here is a sneak peak at my favourite things on the menu!

For your entrée we present Ox-On! – a selection of fusion events for families and adults in Oxford City. Enjoy your science with flavours of dance, music, performance and film, smothered in generous amounts of fun.

Kicking off Ox-On! we have joined forces with Nuffield Department of Medicine and the British Society of Gene and Cell Therapy to put together a panel of the world’s leading vaccines experts. They include Peter Piot, the chap who discovered Ebola (my money is on him for a Nobel Prize in the next few years).

On Friday March 6 we will be taking over the Natural History Museum for a day of intriguing interactive activities and talks on the horrible diseases that are our biggest biological threats.

Finish off your Friday with laughter and performance at the Famelab UK Oxford final. Hosted by Science Oxford, an array of tantalising science morsels are yours to consume in the hunt to find the region’s most entertaining science communicators.

Saturday is the day for families to get their hands and minds busy finding the fun in science at Science In Your World.

Bonn Square (opposite the entrance to the Westgate Centre) will be bursting with hands-on activities and demonstrations offered by local organisations such as Siemens, University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes.

Everything at this well established and beloved event is free and you can pop in and have some respite from your Mother's Day shopping!

We have teamed up with Dancin’ Oxford for a Sunday of science with a dash of dance. Toddlers Have Grass! is an exploration of the world beneath our feet, while for adults the Dance and Academia Conference asks whether dance can inspire new scientific research and whether science can give new meaning to choreography. If cinema is your weakness then come on down to the Old Fire Station for cutting-edge science in film.

If, like me, you need a bit of a jump-start on a Monday then you will love Awake!

The closing event at Ox-On! explores consciousness and the phenomenon of waking during general anaesthetic through research, poetry and music, culminating in an original new composition by Michael Zev Gordon.

Full yet? I hope not. We are only just coming to the main course! Between March 4 and 30, in venues right across Oxfordshire, we have events on crime-scene investigation, Dinosaurs of the British Isles, the world’s ugliest animals, renewable energy, dementia and the brain.

Highlights for families include Wow!How? and Brookes Science Bazaar, both overflowing with the most enticing experiments and activities to get in and try.

And for the more mature among us Physicist or Spy? where Professor Frank Close will uncover his thoughts on the controversial atomic scientist Bruno Pontecorvo.

For the young at heart we have Bright Club where science and comedy are whipped together to create a creamy delight that is the perfect accompaniment for your Wednesday evening.

What meal is complete without pudding? ATOM!, our closing festival of science and technology in Abingdon, is quite a feast. We have a spectacular programme of evening events for adults starting with a cosmic quest led by BBC astronomy favourites Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest.

We come crashing back to earth to see how 3D printing is saving lives and meet the heart surgeons who are taking technology into the operating theatre to revolutionise medicine.

By this point it is clear we have a problem with overindulgence but never fear we have partnered with the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Services to bring Dr Chris Van Tulleken to Abingdon. He and his team of trusty researchers from the hit BBC 2 series “What’s The Right Diet for You” will be doing Choose the Right Diet, Live!

Don’t worry we haven’t forgotten the kids – after all that would be like offering pudding without custard!

Saturday is a veritable feast for the family with ATOM! Science Fair in the Market Square and don’t miss “How to be epic” and “Blue Peter” regular The Blowfish! whose brutal beasts and taste for music guarantee a show for young and old to remember.

Eclipse experience will be astronomic event in Abingdon

March 20 is a special day. At around 9.30 am we will experience an eclipse! 

Not quite a total eclipse, it will be about 82 per cent, but plenty to be seriously impressive. 

There will be coverage on TV, of course, but you can get the most spectacular first-hand experience in Abingdon.

The Abingdon Astronomical Society and Oxfordshire Science Festival will have telescopes and viewers as well as experts on hand to make your eclipse experience a heart-racing one. 

If you can’t be there then you may want to come along to our event on March 13 where Chris Lintott (BBC Sky at Night) and John Mason will be giving their expert hints and tips on viewing the eclipse as well as other “stuff in space”. 

Ironically our moon almost snuffing out the sun’s light is a highlight of the International Year of Light. 

With Diamond Light Source, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Culham Centre for Fusion Energy right on our doorsteps, it is only right that we celebrate the Year of Light with leading scientists from each of these world-leading facilities join us for lunch. 

Our three Lunchtime Light Bites will give you an insight into the ideas and initiatives that are set to change our world in the near future. 

We have a very limited number of tickets for lunch so book early.

* Go to oxscifest.org to book tickets and get details of all the Oxfordshire Science Festival events