11 Beaker Street events worth seeing in 2026

Nobel Prize winners, mushroom growers, sex statisticians and Australia’s only accredited Finnish sauna healer. All converging on Hobart and beyond.

Two weeks. More than 50 events. Scientists roving all over the place. Beaker Street Festival 2026 runs 6–17 August and it’s unlike anything else on the Australian winter events calendar.

This is the festival’s 10th edition – blending science, culture and nature in one vibrant bubbling beaker. It’s no surprise a festival all about science should find its home in Hobart; Tasmania’s capital city is a hub for world-leading research into ecology, marine science, biodiversity and air quality. It’s also one of the world’s five Antarctic gateway cities.

Beaker Street’s 2026 program has grown stranger and richer in equal measure. This year’s theme is The Second Act: an invitation to interrogate assumptions, invite debate and reconnect with each other through nature, technology, theatre, music and even the art of true crime.

Whether you’re planning your Hobart winter trip around this curious Off Season festival or you’re already here and fancy a good reason to leave the couch, here’s our guide to 11 Beaker Street Festival events worth securing tickets for before they sell out.

Beaker Street headliners and big ideas

1. VAST: An immersive sound experience

12–13 August | $30–$80 | Theatre Royal

Beaker Street Festival 2026 headline event

If you think science and art don’t mix, think again. Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Professor Brian Schmidt, one of the scientists behind the discovery of dark energy and the accelerating expansion of the universe, collaborates with internationally acclaimed Tasmanian composer Constantine Koukias on a live, 360-degree sonic artwork inside Theatre Royal: Australia’s oldest working theatre. It’s cosmology made audible – stirring, enchanting and educational.

2. Dr Karl: Live in Hobart and Burnie

15 August | $10–$20 | Burnie Arts Centre

16 August | $15–$35 | Hobart City Hall

Learn from the country’s top science communicator

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki needs no introduction but, if we were to try, “Australia’s most recognisable science communicator” is all you need to know. Catch him live in Hobart and Burnie, giving you a reason to plan your own Beaker Street road trip to the north west (more on that below). Come with a question. He’ll have an answer. Or, at the very least, an educated hypothesis.

3. Psychedelics Revisited

15 August | $25–$35 | Hobart City Hall

Leading psychedelic research comes to Tasmania

Dr Paul Liknaitzky leads Australia’s largest psychedelic research program and arrives at Beaker Street to explore the future of psychedelic-assisted therapy. If the past few years of clinical research have shifted your assumptions about what medicine can look like, you’ll want to book yourself a spot in this room.

4. Murder on Beaker Street: The Science of True Crime

14 August | $25–$35 | Hobart City Hall

Forensic scientist talks murder at Hobart event

Kate McMahon researches wombat poo for a living, which turns out to be great preparation for examining crime scenes. Hear from this forensic scientist about the science behind the cases that keep podcast listeners up at night. This one’s for punters with a thirst for the truth – crime and science buffs alike.

5. Sextistics

15 August | $25–$35 | Hobart City Hall

Mother-daughter research duo examines sex statistics

Dr Esmé Louise James and her daughter Dr Susan James have surveyed more than 11,000 people about their sex lives and turned the findings into a show. Data-driven, candid, surprising and (probably) the most statistically rigorous night out in Hobart this winter.

6. Can't Look Away: How our technology keeps us hooked

15 August | $25–$35 | Hobart City Hall

Technology addiction science talk in Hobart

Human-computer interaction researchers Dr Meredith Castles and Dr Tim Nugent unpack how digital programs are designed to hold our attention, while policy expert Dr Rys Farthing examines how social media platforms shape public life. The Beaker Street Debate also tackles whether social media bans should extend to over 16s. Whichever side of the debate you sit on, this one’ll have you hooked.

Connect in nature

7. Traditional Finnish Sauna Healing with Nanna Bayer

9 + 16 August | $130 | Secret location near Hobart

Experience Finnish sauna methods in Hobart

Want to warm up this winter? Nanna Bayer is Australia’s only accredited traditional Finnish sauna healer. Join her group healing sessions in South Hobart and experience the benefits of the only traditional Finnish sauna stove of its kind in Australia. Expect heat so intense it feels medicinal. This is a new event for 2026, away from the Hobartica precinct beneath the foothills of Kunanyi / Mount Wellington.

8. Wurangkili Liwari Nipaluna: Star Stories on Kunanyi

6, 8, 11 + 14 August | $75 | The Springs, Kunanyi / Mount Wellington

Palawa astronomy experience in Tasmania

The same stars have been read from Kunanyi / Mount Wellington for thousands of years. Pakana woman and UTAS Senior Indigenous Scholar Theresa Sainty, alongside Tasmanian photographers Luke Tscharke and Dr Andrew Phipps, share those stories with you up high on this sacred mountain. It’s a chance to learn about Tasmanian Aboriginal astronomy and sky country in an elemental setting. Worth layering up for.

The science of dining and drinking

9. Dark Sky Dinner at Frogmore Creek

13 August | $210–$240 | Frogmore Creek Winery

Eat dinner with an astrophysicist in Tasmania

If there’s one place in Australia to find dark skies, it’s Tasmania in winter with its long, dark nights, low light pollution and often clear skies. Wiradjuri astrophysicist Dr Kirsten Banks shares First Nations perspectives and contemporary astronomy at a dinner held under these dark skies at Frogmore Creek winery in the Coal River Valley – not far from the Mount Pleasant Radio Telescope Observatory which, conveniently, is also hosting tours during Beaker Street Festival in 2026 ($13 + 16 August, $13–$20).

10. Mushroom workshop at Tunnel Hill

8 + 15 August | $140 | Tunnel Hill Mushrooms, Mount Rumney

Flavoursome fungi workshop in Tasmania

Dean Smith grows gourmet fungi inside a dark, damp, decommissioned 1890s railway tunnel just north of Hobart. Lucky for you, this place is extra atmospheric in winter. His mushroom workshop at Tunnel Hill is one of those Beaker Street experiences that’s as fascinating as it is flavoursome.

11. Fermentation Masterclass at FermentHQ

16 August | $650 | FermentHQ, Legana

Fermentation workshop near Launceston

Embark on a premium full-day experience with four workshops at FermentHQ near Launceston: cheese-making, sourdough baking, a wine workshop celebrating cool-climate grapes, and delving into probiotic sauerkraut and fermented vegetables. If you’re curious about the benefits and craft of fermentation, FermentHQ is a state-of-the-art scientific hub popular among producers, researchers and chefs alike, offering you a unique immersion experience this August.

Check out the free program

On the festival’s first weekend, much of the antics at the Hobartica precinct are free. Sprawling along Hobart’s waterfront, the Antarctic Night Market embodies a European winter market feel with a Tassie twist. Pop into the geodesic domes for unexpected installations, from live concerts to a Macquarie Island VR experience and live seal cams. There’s a polar plunge pool if you’re feeling brave, plus hot chocolate in the domes to warm back up again.

Did we mention there’s a Krill Party? Yep, a whole party dedicated to the humble crustacean. Dress code: ‘dressed to krill’. And the Roving Scientist Bar at Australia’s oldest continuously licensed pub in Australia, Hope and Anchor, is reliably popular. Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith’s Whistle-Stop Tour of the Universe is another freebie.

And if you’re looking for more affordable festivities, most ticketed Beaker Street Festival 2026 program events at Hobart City Hall are about $35 for adults or $25 for concession patrons.

Beyond Hobart: the regional program

Why should Hobartians have all the fun? Beaker Street is bringing plenty more events across Tasmania’s regions in 2026. If you’re planning a Tasmania winter holiday, here are some reasons to stay longer and go further.

Take a regional field trip like the Turrakana / Tasman Peninsula geology tour examining the link between Antarctica and Tasmania, or a tour of Triabunna’s Sea Forest Farm where seaweed is harvested to feed cows and reduce their ‘methane expulsions’, to put it politely.

Dr Karl’s Burnie appearance, followed by his event at Mount Gnomon Farm in Penguin, gives you an easy north-west itinerary to follow. Or head to the Quoin regenerative property in Ross for Sounds of Renewal, an acoustic restoration project using birdsong to bring back native Tasmanian bird populations.

Styx Valley of the Giants: Big Tree Immersion leads you into the Derwent Valley’s old-growth forest to walk among some of the tallest trees in the Southern Hemisphere. After wandering beneath ancient giants on this guided Tasmanian nature experience, you’ll leave feeling inspired. And tiny.