Talks

“Was du nicht alles zu erzählen hast!

So klein du bist, so groß bist du Phantast.”

Mephistopheles, in Goethe’s Faust II

2025

Keynote Lectures:

Research Papers:

  • “Too distrustful of female talent’ and ‘heartily tired of ladyauthors’?: The female history of the Society of the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge”, SHARP, University of Rochester, 7-11 July.

Conference Panel:

  • ‘Women in Science—Communities of Authorship’, with Elizabeth Hoiem (U Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Alan Rauch (U of North Carolina, Charlotte), Mary Ton, Kristen Wilson & Bethany G. Anderson (U Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), SHARP University of Rochester, 7-11 July.

Introducing the second Keynote Speaker of RES Student Forum 2025, Franziska Kohlt of University of Leeds - It’s a bug, and a feature! Storytelling Insects �

2024

Keynote Lecture:

Research Papers:

  • ‘The Library for the Young and constructing the language of Imperial Science’, History of Science Society Conference, Mérida, Mexico, 7-10 November.
  •  ‘Infants and Infantilised: The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and publishing for the young’, British Society for the History of Science Conference, Aberystwyth, 10-13 July.
  • ‘Insects, environmentalism, and Lewis Carroll’s didactic vision for children’, International Conference of Three Societies on Literature and Science, 10-12 April, University of Birmingham.

Invited Talks:

Proposed Panels:

2023

Keynote Lecture:

Research Papers:

  • ‘“If I were a Beetle and had rolled over on my back…”: Lewis Carroll and compassion for insects as transformative agent in nature literature for children’, Transnational Animal Welfare Activism and the Victorians, University of Surrey, Guildford, 17 May.
  • ‘Two sides of a mirror: Imagining national identity through Alice and Tourism’, Encountering Alice, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 25-26 April.

Invited Talks:

  • ‘Science, Education and Children’s Literature’, University of Malmo, Sweden, 10 October.
  • ‘Through the Wonderglass: Alice, Science and Medicine, in the Victorian Age and Beyond‘, Lewis Carroll Society of North America, 12th August.
  • ‘Science, Religion and the secular Academy’, St George’s Church, Leeds, 24 March.
  • ‘”Words matter: Metaphor, narrative and behaviour change, in risk and health communication around Covid-19″, Doing Trust in the Era of Crises and Catastrophes: Practices , University of Wuppertal, 19 January.

Proposed Panels:

https://twitter.com/frankendodo/status/1581944542135087105

2022

Research Papers:

Invited Talks:

  • “A Matter of Life and Death: Victorian Childhoods, and What We Can Learn from them Today”, University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education, 13 March.
  • ‘‘Parallels with the Pandemic’: Living through Coronavirus and World War Two – similarities and differences‘, with Brooke Rogers, Jo Fox, and Colin Philpott, University of York, 31 March.
  • “Alice Through Time: How Alice became us”, University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education, 18 July.
  • ‘”Portfolio Careers” in STS?’, AsSSIST Summer School, University of York, 7 September.
  • ‘The hagiographic instinct in the historiography of science and science communication’, Centre for the History of Science, Work in Progress Seminar, University of Leeds, 11 October.
  •  ‘The Moon, the Microscope and US‘, Museum of the Moon, Bolton Cathedral, 15/16 October.
  •  “Insect perceptions in the history of science & popular culture”, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, UCL, 28 October.
  •  “An Insect’s Guide to Interdisciplinarity”, Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences Seminar, University of Birmingham, 16 November.
  • “From Alice to Covid-land: Doing Critical Medical Humanities across the disciplines”, Medical Humanities Research Seminar, University of Leeds, 14 December.

https://twitter.com/frankendodo/status/1503425257834795020

2021

Research papers:

  • “Science, scientism, and the hagiographic instinct of Covid-19”, Science & You Congress, Université de Lorraine, Metz, 16-19 November.
  • Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass & the Philosophies of Victorian Optical Culture, Through the Looking-Glass Sesquicentenary Conference, University of York 4-5 November [Online].
  • “Be Bold, be brave, be true”- and why: The science of how Children’s Literature can really change the world’, CHS Biennial Conference with MCYS, “Children and Young People, Speaking Up and Speaking Out”, Manchester Metropolitan University, 18 June [Online]

Invited talks: 

  • “Vaccines: Their Narratives and Visual Communication in the history of science and science communication”, Guest Lecture & Seminar, Universität der Künste Berlin & University of Oxford, 15 December.
  • “Alice in Wonderland through the Tourists Looking-Glass: A Short History of Alice as popular culture icon, marketing “Alice” & fan-tourism at Oxford”, Guest Lecture: North Carolina State University & University of Tsubuka, 18 November.
  • “Effective Narratives of Hope in Climate Communication”, Catholics at COP26, 10 November [online].
  • “New Tools for the Future”, with Prof Antonella di Santo, Bristol Festival of Technology, 14 October [online].
  • “George MacDonald & The Poetry of Science”, with Prof Tom McLeish, George MacDonald Society Online, 7 October [online].
  • ‘”Of Wasps in Wigs and Gnatter with Gnats: How Insects made Alice in Wonderland”‘, Cabinet of Natural History Seminar, Department for History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, 17 May [online]
  • ‘Narratives of Covid-19 ‘, IRIHS Research Seminar, Nuffield Department for Primary Care, University of Oxford, 5 May [online].
  • ‘Finding good Science Communication on God’s shore: Covid-19 through the lens of Victorian Natural History’, Exeter & Truro Diocesan Conference, 4 May [online].
  • ‘Narratives of Conflict and Warfare’, York Festival of Ideas, 15 June [online].
  • ‘Alice in Covid-Land: Narrative, Science and Fantasy, from the Victorians to Covid-19’, Birmingham City University Research Seminar, 12 April [online].
  • ‘SciComm in Wonderland’, Interview at “Science Pub Quiz”, Heidelberg University [online]

https://twitter.com/frankendodo/status/1204033969097887744

2020

Research Papers:

Invited Talks:

  • ‘Algorithms, Storytelling & Identity in Covid-19’, SATSU, University of York [online].
  • ‘Finding effective science-religion narratives in the Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond’, South-East Bishops’ Conference, Church of England, 27 July.
  • ‘Human Flourishing in Times of Stress‘, York Festival of Ideas,  12 June. [online]
  • ‘What would Lewis Carroll Do? Why we should all read Alice in Wonderland right now’, Alice’s Day, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford. [postponed]

2019

Research Papers:

  • ‘Of Moths, Chimney Sweepers, and Silent Springs: Storytelling Environmental Crisis and in the Victorian age and today’, ‘Extinctions and Rebellions’ BSLS Symposium, University of Liverpool, 14 November.
  • Conversations with beetles: The struggle against Nature’s silence in Victorian and contemporary Cli-Fi for children, IRSCL Congress ‘Silence and Silencing in Children’s Literature’, Stockholm University, 14-18 August.

Invited Talks:

  • ‘Elon Zuckermusk in Wonderland: AI, Humour & the Victorians’, ‘AI & Comedy’ (internal symposium for Comedians, Comedy Writers & Academics), St Peter’s College, Oxford, 7 December.
  • “The Fairy-Land of Science: The Alice in Wonderland World of Artificial Intelligence”, Hol Lecture, Simon Langton Grammar School, Canterbury, 6th December.
  • “How Victorian science books for children can still help us understand the world”, Worcester College, Oxford, 22 July.
  • “‘Alice in Brexitland’: The ongoing political relevance of Lewis Carroll’s classic, for old and young”, Oxford Alumni Association, 20 July.
  • ‘Timeless Alice: Alice’s Adventures in the modern world- from the fourth dimension to climate change’, Alice’s Day, Bodleian Library, 6 July.
  • “Fables for Tomorrow: The child as interpreter of nature in times of environmental crisis”, Children’s Literature and Science Symposium, Edinburgh Napier University, 22 February.
  • ‘Teraphs, Bee-Hives, Fairy-Folk: The Literature and Science of Victorian AI’, Mind and Automation Seminar Series, Queen’s College, Oxford [postponed].

https://twitter.com/frankendodo/status/1057211562950344704

2018

Keynote Lecture:

Research Papers:

  • “‘More than a figment of scientific fancy’: Redefining the Victorian fantastic through the history of science”, Scholars’ Forum on Literature and the History of Science, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, July.
  • ‘Pattern, Ecology and the Fantastic Imagination of George MacDonald and William Morris’, British Association for Victorian Studies Conference, University of Exeter, 29-31st August.

Invited Talks:

  • ‘The Art and Architecture of Alice in Wonderland’, Christ Church, Oxford, 5 July.
  • ‘Lewis Carroll in Psychology-Land: Fantasy literature and its psychological journeys’, Bodleian Library Oxford, Alice’s Day & Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth Exhibition, 7 July.
  • ‘A bug-hunt in Wonderland: the symbolism and science of Alice’s insects and their transformations’, with Christopher Jeffs, ‘Insects Through the Looking Glass‘ Exhibition & Alice’s Day, Story Museum, Oxford, 7 July.
  • ‘A Machine as wonderful and complex as Man: Automata in Literature and Culture’, ‘Marvellous Mechanical Museum‘ Exhibition, Compton Verney,  27 September.
  • ‘Alice’s Adventures in Oxfordshire: How the landscapes and environments of Oxford inspired Lewis Carroll’s Wonderlands’, Abingdon Arms, Beckley, 25 November.

https://twitter.com/frankendodo/status/854627701277249537

2017

Keynote Lecture:

Research Papers:

  • “From Scotland to Utopia (via Hammersmith): William Morris, George MacDonald and the Utopian Aesthetic”, George MacDonald’s Scotland, University of Aberdeen, July.

Invited Talks:

  • ‘Staging Madness: Lewis Carroll, Victorian psychiatry, and the science of acting’, 4 May, University of York.
  • ‘George MacDonald at the Archive: An Introduction to MacDonald Resources Available at Public Archives’, George MacDonald’s Scotland, University of Aberdeen, Jul 2017.
  • ‘How Science Made Wonderland’, Mansfield College, Oxford, 27 July.
  • ‘Visualising the Water-Babies’, Heath Robinson Museum, London, 2 November (watch here).

Organised Panels:

  • Round Table ‘Children’s Literature and Science’ (Presenters: Prof Laurence Talairach-Vielmas, Dr Melanie Keene, Dr Will Tattersdill, Dr Emily Alder, Kanta Dihal, Franziska Kohlt; Chair: Prof Martin Willis), British Society for Literature and Science Annual Conference, University of Bristol, 2017.

https://twitter.com/AWalker_92/status/887728976516349953

2016

Research Papers:

  • “‘Dreams, that elude the Maker’s frenzied grasp’: The scientific search for identity in the visions of Victorian fantastic literature”, (Dis)Connected Forms: Narratives on the Fractured Self, University of Hull, 8-9 September, 2016.
  • “Entropy of Mind: Psychology and the realistic wonderlands of the fin-de-siècle fantasies of George MacDonald and Lewis Carroll”, BAVS conference, Cardiff University, 31 August-2 September.
  • “George MacDonald and his ‘Realistic Wonderlands’ of Science”, George MacDonald and the Cambridge Apostles, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 20-22nd July.
  • “People call me by dreadful names”: Children’s Literature, Psychology and the Subject of Death, Horrible Histories, SHCY conference, King’s College, London, 16-18 June.
  • “’I hope you understand all the big words’: Striking the balance between science and narrative through fantasy in 19th century children’s literature”, British Society for Literature and Science, Annual Conference, Birmingham University, 7-9 April.
  • “Shifting Identities: Visual and Literary Incarnations of Victorian Psychiatric Thought in adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice”, Asylums, Pathologies and the Themes of Madness: Patrick McGrath and his Gothic Contemporaries’, University of Stirling, 16 January.

Invited Talks:

  • ‘Alice through the Ages: The not-so-secret history of a literary icon’, Leipzig University, 15 December.
  • ‘Lewis Carroll and the Architecture of Wonderland’, Christ Church, Oxford, 8 July.
  • ‘Lewis Carroll and Victorian Psychiatry‘, Lewis Carroll Society, Art Worker’s Guild, London, 8 April.

Organised Panels:

  • “Fractured identities, fractured visions: Dreams of literary modernities” (Panellists: Dr Kirsty Mills, Franziska E Kohlt, Dr Adam Fergus), (Dis)Connected Forms: Narratives on the Fractured Self, University of Hull, 8-9 September, 2016.
  • “Consuming Fantasy: Science, Psychology and the Supernatural in George MacDonald and Victorian Fantastic Literature” (Panellists: Rebecca Langworthy, Dr Kirsty Mills, Franziska E. Kohlt; Chair: Mark Richards), BAVS Conference 2016, Cardiff University.
  • “Explaining the World: Science, Children’s Writing and the (In-)Explicable” (Panellists: Dr Melanie Keene, Franziska E. Kohlt, Kanta Dihal), Horrible Histories, Children’s History Society Inaugural Conference, King’s College London, 2016.

https://twitter.com/frankendodo/status/806082548778536960

2015

Research Papers:

  • “Illustrating Alice, Then and Now: Victorian Visual Culture and the Politics of Modern Children’s Book Illustration & Adaptation”, NCRCL MA/IBBY UK Conference, University of Roehampton, 14 November (read write-up here).
  • “Alice through the Magnifying-Glass: Lewis Carroll and the Victorian Sciences of the Mind”, Alice Through the Ages Conference, Homerton College, University  of Cambridge, 15-17 September.
  • “’We’re all mad here’: Lunacy, Lewis Carroll and Victorian Psychiatry”, British Society for Literature and Science Annual Conference, University of Liverpool, April 2015.
  • “What Alice in Wonderland has got to do with Cognitive Sciences: Interdisciplinary approaches to Fantastic Literature”, Literature and Science Early Career Researchers’ Forum, TORCH, University of Oxford, 3 February.

Organised Panels:

  • “Alice, Science and Narrative” (Panellists: Dr Melanie Keene, Franziska E Kohlt, Joshua Phillips, Chair: Prof Farah Mendlesohn), Alice Through the Ages Conference, Homerton College, University of Cambridge, 15-17 September.
  • “(Dis)Placing Madness: Negotiating the Boundaries in Nineteenth-Century Mental Sciences and Literature” (Panellists: Kalika Sands, Erin Lafford, Franziska E Kohlt, Chair: Dr Jane Darcy),  10th Annual Conference of the British Society of Literature and Science, University of Liverpool, April 2015.

‘”I cannot promise to take you home”: Death and Victorian Children’s Literature’, Ashmolean Museum, 2015.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Sesquicentenary Talks:

  • “Alice and the Victorians: Children’s Literature and Illustration in Victorian Britain”, Wonderday, Christ Church, Oxford, 13 November.
  • “Lewis Carroll’s Alice & Victorian Children’s Literature”, Alice Study Day, Surrey History Centre, 7 November.
  • “What has Alice in Wonderland has got to do with the Cognitive Sciences?”, ‘Blurbs’ Interdisciplinary Lecture Series, Brasenose College, Oxford, 28 October.
  • “Alice Reloaded: Alice’s Afterlife in the Digital Age”, Alice150 Conference, New York, 11 October.
  • ‘150 years of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’, Emory University/ Regent’s Park College, Oxford, 27 July.
  • ‘Pictures and Conversations: Victorian Children’s Books and their Illustrations’, Alice’s Day Oxford, 4 July.
  • ‘Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Jewish Culture‘, University of Oxford Chabad Society, 3 July.
  • ‘Alice and Fashion’, The Alice Look exhibition at Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood, London, 9 May, Alice and Fashion Conference“, Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London, 9 May 2015 (Panelists include Prof Will Brooker, Dr Kiera Vaclavic and Mark Richards).

  • Alice and Fashion Roundtable, Victoria and Albert Museum for Childhood, 2015.

    Alice and Fashion Roundtable, Victoria and Albert Museum for Childhood, 2015.

https://twitter.com/frankendodo/status/581623698358190081

2014

SMV University Church, Oxford

Speaking at the University Church, Oxford, 2014

Research Papers:

  • “‘My heart was sore, and in my brain was neither quest nor purpose’: Physiological illness and fantastic visions in the fin-de-siècle novels of George MacDonald & Lewis Carroll”, The Victorian Roots of Modern Fantasy, The George MacDonald Society, Magdalen College, Oxford, August 2014.
  • “‘How slight the line, if line there be’: Visual perception and (un-)reality in Victorian psychology and literature. ” British Society for Literature and Science Annual Conference, University of Surrey, Guildford, April 2014.

Invited Talks:

  • “The two go naturally together: Teaching Literature and Science at College and University level”, BSLS Teaching Symposium, University of Westminster, November.
  • “Microscopes, Magic Mirrors and Holy Waters: Science, Religion and Fantastic Literature in Victorian Oxford”, Dinner Talk at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, July; invitation by Margaret Edson (Pullitzer Prize for Drama for her play W;t)
  • “Down the Rabbit-Hole to the Centre of the Earth and Beyond: Magical Underground Journeys in Children’s Literature through the Ages.” Alice’s Day Oxford, July.

Organised Panels:

  • “Seeing Things: Aspects of Perception in Science and Literature” (Panelists: Dr Will Abberley, Franziska E Kohlt, Laura E Ludtke; Chair: Dr Rachel Crossland), 9th Annual Conference of the British Society of Literature and Science, University of Surrey, Guildford, April 2014.

Invited Panels:

  • “Thinking Ahead: 150 Years of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” – Alice’s Day 2014, The Story Museum, Oxford; Chair: Mari Prichard; Panelists: Tish Francis (Director Story Museum Oxford), Sarah Stanfield (Chairwoman of the Lewis Carroll Society), Franziska Kohlt (Lewis Carroll Society, University of Oxford).

2013

Research Papers:

Invited Talks:

  • “‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe:  Lewis Carroll – Master of Nonsense.”  Alice’s Day Oxford, July (more info).
  • “Through the Glass Darkly: Victorian literary journeys to the Other Side of human consciousness” Arts and Humanities Discussion Group, St. Anne’s College, Oxford University, January.

2012

Research Papers:

Invited Talk:

  •  “Victorian Wonderlands Revisited”, The Lewis Carroll Society, March, London.

  2011

  • “Into the XBOX and what Alice found there: American McGee’s Alice Madness Returns”. The Afterlife of Alice, Anthony Burgess Foundation, December 2011, Manchester.

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