Applied science fiction for participatory futures​

With Christine Aicardi and Stephen Oram.

In this creative writing workshop, get a taste of what is applied science fiction and how it can be used to open up scientific research to different futures and collective imagination. Using a real scientific project as starting point, we will guide you to think creatively about the implications it could have for the wider world. To get you to think outside of the box in a near future 'real life’ context, you will work through a series of steps that mirror the writing process a Sci Fi short story author might take. At the end of the workshop you will have the beginnings and building blocks of a short story.

Christine Aicardi is Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London (UK). She conducts practice-based research at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Futures Studies, with a special interest in theorising and developing the use of applied science fiction for participatory foresight. She has extensive experience in interdisciplinary collaborations to facilitate Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) for future technologies.

From 2014 to 2020 she worked in the Foresight Laboratory of the Ethics and Society group of the Human Brain Project, Future and Emerging Technology flagship of the European Commission. Since 2020, she is the RRI Lead for the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Smart Medical Imaging and the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe & Trusted AI. She is also an independent ethics expert to the European Commission. She holds a PhD in STS from University College London (UK). She originally trained as an engineer, holding a MEng from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts & Chaussées (France), and worked for over a decade in the technology industry, before returning to higher education. 

Stephen Oram is a UK writer of speculative novels and short stories, often exploring the intersection of messy humans and imperfect technology. He is a leading proponent of applied SF, using bespoke fiction to explore possible futures for different communities and has co-edited three anthologies along these lines.

His work has been praised by publications as diverse as The Morning Star and The Financial Times. His story, My Vagus Proxy, which he collaborated with King’s College London’s Professor Claire Steves on, was shortlisted for the 2025 Dubai Future Foundation competition. It is also in the Best of British Science Fiction 2025 (Newcon Press). His latest longer fiction is the near-future novel, We Are Not Anonymous and the futuristic fable, Brain Fruit.

More about his fiction and his applied SF work can be found at http://stephenoram.net