Why a research festival?
The Chelsea Research Festival
The Chelsea Research Festival highlights Chelsea residents' contributions to science and bridges the gap between community and research.
The Chelsea Research Festival is a research poster session that showcases research that is either ABOUT Chelsea, or conducted BY Chelsea community members—or both!
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The 2025 Chelsea Research Festival
The 4th annual research festival on May 15, 2025, was a huge success! We had 29 amazing poster presentations!
A huge thank you to our planning committee members: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Boson/Providence Center for AIDS Research, Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea, Chelsea Public Schools, HarborCOV, Massachusetts General Hospital, Metropolitan Area Planning Council and Northeastern Solutions to Urban Pollution (iSUPER).
And another huge thank you to our generous sponsors:
Check out photos from the event below!
Some of our presenters have generously allowed us to upload their posters!
Check them out here:
Get involved
Present your research
We usually have our submission portal open between November/December and April of each year. Watch this space!
Volunteer
Our planning committee meets 30 minutes every other week (more or less, depending on the time of year) from October to May. If you'd like to help plan next year's festival, email us!
Even if you can't join the meetings, there are still other ways to volunteer. Just send us a message and we can talk more.
Sponsorships
We always need event sponsorships. It takes about $9,000 to hold the festival each year. If your organization can contribute, get in touch!
Why a research festival?
Chelsea residents are knowledgeable, resilient, and resourceful. We take an active role in our community and in our health, and often work with researchers who study how to improve quality of life amidst challenges related to access to services, environmental injustice, and COVID-19 spread.
However, the Chelsea residents who spend time and energy participating in research often don't get to hear about the results of these studies.
Meanwhile, young people in historically marginalized communities like Chelsea face barriers that reduce their likelihood of becoming researchers themselves.
The Chelsea Research Festival addresses both issues at once by bringing together middle and high school students, researchers from universities and hospitals, professionals from local government and nonprofits, and other community members into an annual poster session that showcases research that is either ABOUT Chelsea, or conducted BY Chelsea community members—or both!
Our goals
Dissemination
Give Chelsea residents the opportunity to hear about the advances in health and science to which they have contributed, and add their own perspectives to the results and next steps
Empowerment
Expose Chelsea residents to career and educational paths in research and provide them with networking opportunities—especially middle and high school students
Collaboration
Give residents, researchers, and organizations a forum for exchanging ideas
Past festivals

The 2024 Chelsea Research Festival

May 9, 2024, Chelsea High School Sponsors Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Northeastern University Solutions to Urban Pollution Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus MGH Chelsea MGH Department of Infectious Disease Planning Committee Bunker Hill Community College  Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Chelsea Public Schools City of Chelsea GreenRoots HarborCOV La Colaborativa MGH Chelsea  Northeastern University Solutions to Urban Pollution Chelsea Research Festival 2024

The 2023 Chelsea Research Festival

May 18, 2023, Chelsea High School Sponsors Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Massachusetts Cultural Council Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus MGH Chelsea Planning Committee Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus Chelsea Public Schools City of Chelsea GreenRoots HarborCOV Healthy Chelsea La Colaborativa Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center  MGH Chelsea Community Research Program Chelsea Research Festival 2023 - Boston Neighborhood News

The 2022 Chelsea Research Festival

May 13, 2022, Chelsea High School Sponsors MGH Department of Medicine MGH Chelsea Research Program MGH Department of Infectious Diseases Planning Committee Bunker Hill Community College Chelsea Campus Chelsea Public Schools City of Chelsea Chelsea Housing Authority GreenRoots HarborCOV Healthy Chelsea La Colaborativa MGH Chelsea Community Research Program

Our story
Read our article to learn the whole story of how the Chelsea Research Festival came to be!
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