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‌‌C2D2 has been a sponsor of the York Festival of Ideas for the past three years and has each year contributed significantly to the programme of activities. The Festival was set up in 2011 to celebrate the vibrancy of the City of York, both past and present and bring together a range of world-class speakers, performances and exhibitions for the benefit of residents and visitors alike. It is an important platform for engaging the public with the wide-ranging and exciting research taking place at the University, much of which is undertaken with partners across the City and the Yorkshire region, as well as further afield.

In June 2012 a successful 'Science out of the Lab: Chronic Diseases and Disorders' interactive engagement event in the Centre of York was held for the first time attracting almost 450 visitors. The event was covered live by Radio York and brought together University researchers, members of the NHS, health charities and other York-based organisations. The York Press produced an article about the event.

The event re-ran in 2013 and this time the event attracted almost 800 visitors who were overwhelmingly positive in their responses. The York Press once more provided coverage and one of the contributors gave an interview on Radio York.

As well as this this event, a programme of talks on health inequalities was held during the 2013 Festival with a particular focus on the social environment, social and primary care services, and nutrition; this also linked in with the Festival theme of 'North and South'.

Also an exhibition on the history of tuberculosis was held at the York Medical Society which again tied in with the Festival theme of 'North and South' by exploring and comparing socio-political and ethnic/national perspectives on the disease from across the globe. The exhibition included images from the collections of the Wellcome Trust and the WHO and was accompanied by a well-received public lecture by Helen Bynum on her new work 'Spitting Blood'.

The 2014 Festival featured ‘Interventions in Healthcare’ as one of its major themes with two events on the eradication of Smallpox, a re-showing of the audiovisual feature about the chronic health problems of adolescents - Jane’s Story - in the University's immersive 3Sixty Space; two very well-attended poetry and illness events, featuring readings by prominent contemporary poets and poems written by members of the public in specially conceived workshops; and the first performances of Transmission: The Choreography of Epidemiology which were extremely well received.

‘Science out of the Lab’ was held this time over two days and received over 850 visitors on the second day who left extremely positive feedback regarding their enjoyment of the activities, what they had learnt and their impressions of the value of research and outreach being undertaken by the University.