If you’re looking for a speaker at an event, here’s an idea of the sort of things I’m up to.

Recently, my focus has been on collaborating with experts to understand the work that’s going on in neuroscience, artificial intelligence and deep machine learning. From this I write short pieces of near-future science fiction as thought experiments and use them as a starting point for discussion between me, scientists and the public.

Examples of this are a project with Bristol Robotics Lab and the Human Brain Project at King’s College London for the Bristol Literary Festival (short version & full version) and a collaboration with the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour.

I’ll be discussing these projects as part of a panel at the Science in Public 2017 conference: “The imagination of possible scientific futures has a colourful history of interaction with scientific research agendas and public expectations. Emphasizing fiction as a method for engaging with and mapping the influence of possible futures this panel will discuss the role of science fiction historically, the role of science fiction in the 21st Century, and its potential as a method for engagement between scientific researchers and publics.”

I’m happy to speak about my collaborations, about what’s interesting to me as a fiction writer and to use the science fiction to inspire discussion about what might happen when ‘messy’ humanity collides with slightly faulty tech and creates those cracks in the code.

I can also run workshops for event attendees who would like to have a go at writing a very short piece of fiction.

If you want to get in touch, the easiest way is to complete the short contact form below. Some alternative options are listed underneath.

Twitter: @OramStephen

FaceBook: Stephen Oram Author