It’s the summer in Europe and with a heat wave going around most of the countries were experiencing very hot day times. The Olympic city of Switzerland, Lausanne too was experiencing the same hot weather patterns during the day time, but on 1st of July the atmosphere in and around the SwissTech Convention Center of Lausanne was totally different with science journalists from all around the world coming in to attend The World Conference of Science Journalists 2019. The World Conference of Science Journalists is considered as the largest gathering of science journalists from around the world.
This year the Conference was held for the 11th time under the theme “Reaching New Heights in Science Journalism”. According to a press release by the World Federation of Science Journalists 1137 delegates representing 83 countries had participated the conference.
The conference delegates included 337 speakers to choose from in 63 sessions, nine luncheons, five press conferences and seven workshops. 109 travel scholarships were awarded, mainly to journalists coming from developing countries. The special exhibition space hosted booths from 38 exhibitors, showcasing advances in science and media technologies. On each day of the conference, held on the campus shared by EPFL and the University of Lausanne, there were around 50 daily lunchtime visits to laboratories to meet researchers. Many delegates also took advantage of one or more of the 30 field trips on offer.
Mr. Dilip Fernando and Mr. Sisira Kumara from the Sri Lankan Scientist Magazine were among the travel fellowship winners and participated the conference representing Sri Lanka. These two fellowships were granted by the International Development Research Center of Canada. Veteran Sri Lankan Science writer Mr. Nalaka Gunawardena participated the conference as a speaker and chaired a special session on Reporting Innovations.
The conference was a tremendous opportunity for Science journalists to expand their horizons in many areas in science, and also was a great networking opportunity where they could make new connections with other journalists, Editors and scientists.
This year the conference became a reality and a huge success with the efforts of Swiss association of science journalism (SASJ), Association des journalists scientifiques de la presse d’information (AJSPI), Science writers in Italy (SWIM) and the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ).
President of the Organizing Committee of WCSJ2019 and the President of SASJ, Olivier Dessibourg Speaking during the “Science Journalist of the Year” Winner announcement at the Olympic Museum, Lausanne
President of the Organizing Committee, Olivier Dessibourg, giving his thoughts on the conference says “WCSJ2019 was a tremendous success, There are many reasons for that, but we are particularly proud of the fact that our key message that quality independent science journalism in the worldwide media is vital, and that it needs to be supported and nurtured, was made not only by participants, but also by decision makers, politicians and scientists who were invited to speak at the conference.”
The next World Conference of Science Journalists will be held in Medellin, Colombia in 2021.
