Dr Franziska Kohlt is a historian and sociologist of science and science communication. She specialises in narratives that shaped the public understanding of science from the 19th century to the present, especially its marginalised forms, from children’s science literature to indigenous narratives.

Kohlt has previously held a Leverhulme fellowship at the Universities of Leeds, where she worked on female authors of science & knowledge, literature for children and working class audiences, and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. During a Templeton-funded fellowship at the University of York, she explored science-religion narratives in the framing of Covid-19 and Climate Change, and advised faith leaders in science communication as part of the Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science project.

She is a science communication practitioner, broadcaster and public speaker, having appeared at COP26, BBC In Our Time, AI Leadership summits, and acted as consultant to the Natural History Museum, UNESCO, and Catholic Climate Action. She is also an Alice in Wonderland expert and was appointed the Inaugural Carrollian Fellow of the University of Southern California.

Research

• Environmental History
• History of Science
• Science and Religion
• History of Empire
• Childhood Histories
• Science & Literature
• Science Communication
• Narrative Studies
• Folklore & Indigenous Knowledge Making

Kohlt’s research is situated on the historical intersections of Science, Storytelling and Society, tracing connections between the 19th century and the present. As part of the AdaptAIR project, she currently explores the understandings of Himalayan glaciers by indigenous communities and Moravian missionaries as key to engineering effective climate interventions. 

Expertise and Public Engagement

• BBC In Our Time ("Automata" & "Alice in Wonderland")
• BBC The Forum ("Mirrors" & "Moths")
• BBC Unexpected Elements ("The Science of Alice in Wonderland")
• Royal Institution, "Michael Faraday's Supernatural Experiment"
• "Learning from Automata History", Sogeti/ Capegemini AI Leadership Summit
• "Spectral Science" Exhibition, University of Southern California
• "Insects Through the Looking-Glass" Exhibition, Royal Entomological Society, Story Museum, Oxford
• "The Marvellous Mechanical Museum" Exhibition, Compton Verney