A stellar line-up of guest speakers has been revealed for Infinity Festival at West Lakes Academy.

BBC broadcaster and professor of particle physics Brian Cox and professor Danielle George MBE, both from the University of Manchester, had already been announced to headline the festival later this month.

They will be joined by Dr Erica McAlister, a senior curator at the Natural History Museum, Dr Theodoros Bampouras, an associate professor in sport and exercise biomechanics at the University of Cumbria, Dr Steven Le Comber, a senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, and Dr Sarita Robinson, a senior lecturer at UCLan.

The festival aims to inspire teenagers across the county to pursue careers in STEM - science, technology, engineering and maths - subjects.

"We have got an amazing and packed day planned for the students attending the first ever Infinity Festival," said Pete Woolaghan, from the organising team.

"We are very lucky to have secured such eminent and respected speaker who will be sharing their experiences and insights."

On the day, 210 students from across Cumbria will attend to hear about topics such as special patterns and modelling, natural history and entomology - the branch of zoology concerned with the study of insects - and will get hands on with workshops involving robotics coding and hardware, sonar tracking and thermal imaging.

Jonathan Johnson, principal of West Lakes Academy, said: “To host such a prestigious event is an honour for West Lakes Academy. Our sponsors, the NDA, Sellafield Ltd and UCLAN, believe this is exactly the kind of event that should be held in West Cumbria and, although at our academy, it should be for the benefit of as many Cumbrian children as possible. That’s why we offered places to every secondary school in the county."

Dr Erica McAlister, who will be presenting on her specialism of flies, added: "I hope to bring the world of the small, neglected and repulsed to the students and present them with a different way of looking at nature.

"We are living through an extraordinary time in terms of needing to understand our environment quickly and I hope to show that both living and dead flies can help us do that! Chocolate, crime and climate change will all be discussed through the medium of flies."

The academy will open its doors to the speakers and students on September 28.

Eleven students from West Lakes Academy were invited to London to take part in the annual St Paul's Way Trust Science Summer School, a partner event of the festival.