Lectures and hands on activities about what is science and what is fiction in famous Star Wars movies and how Star Wars relates to STFC funded R&D

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40 years ago, on 25 May 1977, Star Wars began its world-wide success story with the first movie being launched at 32 cinemas in the USA. Since then the famous series has sparked the imagination of generations. Through interactive workshops, we propose to engage STFC staff outside of accelerator science, as well as cohorts of secondary school children (years 7/8) with STFC science by immersing them into a Star Wars-themed environment. On the event days, we will illustrate and explain what is science and what is fiction in the movies. This will include for example the physics behind the iconic light sabre, hyperspace, and of course...the force. In addition, we will link the Star Wars universe to current STFC-funded research in Liverpool's Physics Departments and show how this can be as exciting as what is shown in Star Wars. Finally, there will be many hands-on activities and opportunities to speak with our researchers.This ties in perfectly with STFC public engagement strategy in that we will use Star Wars to explain the challenges our society currently faces, present recent research results and use the event to dispel misconceptions about how nature 'ticks' and show how innovative ideas are needed to overcome these challenges - improving the understanding of the importance of accelerator science as underpinning technology for current R&D. The events shall also motivate participants and the wider public through online campaigns supporting the events to consider further training and careers in research.