Sustainable Reality
HPC/AI Showcase
From Curiosity to Compute
Sustainable Reality 2026 visited four universities over eight days, welcoming 181 participants to explore HPC and AI through hands-on hardware, Linux, research computing and creative experimentation. Thank you to our university partners and everyone who joined us.
Read our Roadshow retrospective to discover what happened across London, Belfast, Cardiff and York.
Roadshow Sites, 2026
London
University College London
Saturday, 26 September 2026
Belfast
Queen’s University Belfast
Wednesday, 30 September 2026
Cardiff
Cardiff University
Friday, 2 October 2026
York
University of York
Saturday, 3 October 2026
What We Explored
Across four universities, participants explored HPC and AI, worked alongside other students, and discovered how research computing supports real-world discovery.
Along the way, they met people working in the field, explored the decisions behind research computing, and discovered where their interests might take them.
You didn’t need to know Linux. You didn’t need to study Computer Science. You didn’t need previous HPC experience.
You just needed to be curious.
Why HPC & AI?
Some of the biggest research questions require more than a laptop. From understanding our climate and developing new medicines to exploring the universe, designing new materials and working with AI, researchers rely on powerful computing systems to tackle problems at scale.
But HPC and AI aren’t just about faster computers. Behind every system are people making decisions about software, data, infrastructure, energy, research needs, and how to use limited resources.
That means there are lots of ways to be part of this world. You don’t need to arrive knowing Linux, how to build computers or how to train AI models. The field needs a much wider range of skills than you might expect.
Find Your Next Step
Interested in going further?
Sustainable Reality was designed to be a starting point, not a one-off experience.
There are plenty of opportunities to continue exploring HPC and AI, whether through training, research, careers or student activities such as the CIUK Student Cluster Challenge.
We’re also exploring opportunities to bring participants’ creative work together for a collaborative Art of HPC submission in 2027.
Your journey into HPC doesn’t have to end with the Roadshow.