Weekend van de Wetenschap 2026

Weekend van de Wetenschap, the national science weekend, is the one time each year when Dutch laboratories, universities, hospitals, museums and research institutes open doors that are normally closed to the public. The 2026 edition runs on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October.

The weekend is organised by NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam and was initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. It is held annually in the first weekend of October. Nothing about it is concentrated in a single city. Activities are spread across the country, so what is actually within reach of you depends on which institutions in your region sign up.

What happens during the weekend

The premise is simple: places that normally work behind closed doors let the public in and let researchers explain what they do. That means the working parts of institutions rather than a polished exhibition about them. The organisers describe visitors meeting real scientists, watching restorers at work in a museum, and doing experiments in laboratories themselves.

Formats vary by host. Utrecht University, to take one participating institution, sets out hands-on experiments, mini-lectures and workshops run by its own researchers at Utrecht Science Park, on Sunday 4 October from 10:00 to 16:00. No national opening hours are published, so times differ from one host to the next.

Direct contact with the people doing the research is the point that the organisers emphasise most. This is not a lecture series with a rope line. Visitors are meant to ask questions of scientists and technicians in the spaces where the work happens.

Who opens their doors

Participation is broad and not limited to the obvious science venues. The organisers list universities, libraries, museums, hospitals and research institutions among the hosts.

That mix matters for anyone deciding whether to bother. A hospital opening a working department and a public library running a science afternoon are very different experiences, and both sit under the same national banner.

How the programme works

The national programme is published in stages rather than all at once. The first activities appear online from 1 September, and the complete 2026 programme is due from 18 September. If you check the site in July or August, expect it to be thin.

Once published, the programme is searchable with filters, so you can narrow it down instead of scrolling through a national list. The organisers also group nearby activities into what they call Hotspots: clusters of participating organisations and programme items within walking distance of each other. For a weekend where the offer is scattered across the whole country, that is a useful shortcut.

Who it is aimed at

The organisers pitch the weekend primarily at families with children between roughly 8 and 14, while describing it as accessible to everyone, young and old. In practice that means the core programme is built to be understood without a science background, which is useful if Dutch is not your first language and you are weighing up whether the content will land.

Language is worth thinking about. The national programme site is in Dutch, and no national statement is made about which languages individual activities run in, so it pays to check the entry for anything you plan to attend.

Behind the event

NEMO Science Museum runs the weekend on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, which initiated it.

The stated aim is to give everyone, young and old, accessible insight into the world of science and technology, including the parts of research that are usually invisible from outside.

Common questions

When is Weekend van de Wetenschap 2026?

Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 2026. The event is held every year in the first weekend of October.

When can I see the programme?

The first activities go online from 1 September 2026, and the full programme is expected from 18 September 2026.

Where does it take place?

Across the Netherlands, at whichever universities, libraries, museums, hospitals and research institutions choose to take part. There is no single central venue. The organisers group nearby activities into Hotspots, clusters within walking distance of each other, to make it easier to visit several in one trip.

Is it suitable for children?

Families with children aged around 8 to 14 are the main audience, and the organisers describe the weekend as accessible to everyone, young and old.

Who organises it?

NEMO Science Museum organises the weekend. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science initiated it.

Do I need to book?

No booking or ticketing information is published at national level. Check the entry for the specific activity you want to attend once the programme is published.