Clive Cookson anticipates the World Conference of Science Journalists

The world’s science journalists will gather in London in 2009 for their sixth conference. The primary purpose of the meeting will be to enable science writers – and the communicators and PR people who enjoy a symbiotic relationship with them – to discuss issues of professional interest, from uncovering academic fraud to the embargo policies of research journals. But the occasion will also provide a glorious opportunity for the host city and indeed the whole of Britain to show off its scientific strengths to the international media.
The World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) is coming to London as a result of a bid prepared by the Association of British Science Writers. At the fifth WCSJ, held in Melbourne last April, the ABSW beat off a rival proposal by its Italian counterparts to take the conference to Trieste.
The 650 participants in Melbourne acclaimed that conference a great success, so London has a lot to live up to. An attractive feature of the Australian meeting was its liveliness – a consequence of appointing a ‘producer’ to organise each session as if it were a radio or television show. This format is likely to be repeated in London.

Hobbit session

The best sessions in Melbourne blended top scientists with journalists who had led the media coverage of their research. My favourite was not about one of the big subjects like stem cells and climate change but ‘Uncovering the hobbit, Homo floresiensis’.
This brought together Chris Turney and Bert Roberts of the University of Wollongong – two leading figures in the excavation and analysis of dwarf human remains on the Indonesian island of Flores – with Deborah Smith of the Sydney Morning Herald who had covered every twist and turn of the story. The controversy over whether the fossils represented a tiny new human species or Homo sapiens with a dwarfing disease came vividly to life. (The verdict was that the hobbit is indeed a separate species.)

London in gear

London has much to organise in a relatively short time. At the time of writing, many of the key personnel are already in place. Julie Clayton of SciDev.Net is conference director, Ted Nield of the Geological Society is chairing the steering committee in his capacity of ABSW Chairman, and Pallab Ghosh of the BBC plays a key role, as Chairman of the World Federation of Science Journalists. Fiona Fox of the Science Media Centre, who chairs the programme committee, aims to bring in some really big names from politics and the media to discuss scientific issues.
But most of the practical arrangements, including the location and timing, are yet to be decided. Previous WCSJ events have been in grand hotels. In Melbourne, everything took place on the third floor conference suite of the downtown Hyatt. This single centralised venue facilitated (or forced) friendly mingling of the delegates.
London hotel prices are so high that we may not be able to maintain that tradition. Academic venues could provide a tempting alternative: perhaps Imperial College and its neighbouring museums (Albertopolis) or UCL with the new Wellcome Trust buildings on Euston Road. The current aim is to hold a three or four day conference some time between April and July 2009; precise timing will depend on the price and availability of venues.

Sponsors needed

A high priority is to find sponsors and raise funds. A financial obstacle faced by any conference aimed at journalists is that the media are accustomed to attending scientific and technical conferences – even those charging four-figure sums to other participants – free of charge. It is therefore hard to get journalists (or their employers) to pay to attend a professional meeting. And most science journalists from the developing world, who benefit particularly from attendance at the WCSJ, cannot afford travel or accommodation in London, let alone a conference fee.
The Melbourne conference benefited from generous support from the state government of Victoria (whose sponsorship enabled me to attend) and the Australian federal government, as well as a host of other public and private sector organisations. We hope that their counterparts here will be as forthcoming, in the cause of supporting worldwide science communication.
Although the main point of the WCSJ is professional development rather than providing news stories directly from the conference itself, participants can expect a cornucopia of stories and feature material from visits and/or briefings that will be laid on for them before and after the main meeting, not only in London but elsewhere in the UK.

Clive Cookson is Science Editor of the Financial Times.