I’m really pleased to be able to ‘go public’ and let people know that I’ll be giving a talk on applied science fiction at Worldcon 2024.

For those of you who don’t know – in august this year, the annual world science fiction convention will take place in Glasgow.

It truly does move around the world year after year and this is its 82nd, so it has quite a pedigree. For example, it’s where the Hugos are awarded and where over 9,000 people from 63 countries will gather to listen, discuss and debate all the many facets of the science fiction genre.

With almost a thousand sessions over the course of five days, it’s impossible to give a true sense of its breadth, but you can always take a look if you’re interested.

So, it’s no surprise that I’m massively chuffed to have been chosen to talk on…

Applied Science Fiction: the Who, What, Why and How

Creating inclusive conversations that discuss which future we want has never been more important, and science fiction has an important role to play in this. Through short stories, whose world-building has been iterated with scientists, everyone can take a step back and consider plausible scenarios. Using real examples of projects with academia, government and think-tanks, this talk will give an overview of what applied science fiction is and why it has value to SF writers, scientists and society.

If you’re at the convention then please come along and listen and do say hello, either at the talk or at the bar!