The 13th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) will be held in Pretoria, South Africa from 1–5 December 2025.
The theme of the 2025 conference is “Science journalism and social justice: Journalism that builds understanding and resilience”.
The conference will be organised by the South African Science Journalists’ Association (SASJA) and the Science Diplomacy Capital for Africa (SDCfA), an initiative and entity of the National Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The venue is the CSIR International Convention Centre.
Check out the conference website for more:
WFSJ News
World Federation of Science Journalists Board gets resounding mandate at Budapest Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Science journalist associations from around the world have unanimously endorsed the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) Board, reaffirming its leadership as it prepares for the 13th World Conference of Science Journalists in Pretoria, South Africa, from 1–5 December 2025.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on 20 November 2024 at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest and online, brought together representatives from over 35 associations. Member associations expressed strong support for the Board’s actions and provided input for the Federation’s future direction.
“This unanimous support is truly inspiring,” said WFSJ President Ben Deighton. “It gives the Board a clear mandate to focus on building a successful World Conference of Science Journalists next year.”
The AGM marked a turning point following a leadership transition earlier this year and the election of four new Board members: Agatha Ngotho (Kenya), Debbie Ponchner (Costa Rica), Subhra Priyadarshini (India), and Aleida Rueda (Mexico). These new members shared their vision for the federation during the meeting, which also featured updates on key initiatives such as a project to develop ethical guidelines for science journalism and an African-led proposal to expand science journalism training across the continent.
Delegates from countries including Argentina, Australia, Benin, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Ivory Coast, Croatia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States participated in the AGM.
The current WFSJ Board of Directors are:
• President: Ben Deighton (UK)
• Vice-Presidents: Joseph Mbeng Boum (Cameroon), Chhatra Karki (Nepal)
• Treasurer: Jean-Marc Fleury (Canada)
• Secretary: Lesley Evans Ogden (Canada)
• Directors: Agatha Ngotho (Kenya), Debbie Ponchner (Costa Rica), Subhra Priyadarshini (India), and Aleida Rueda (Mexico)
Founded in 2002 during the 3rd World Conference of Science Journalists in São José dos Campos, Brazil, the WFSJ continues to promote excellence and collaboration in science journalism globally.
For further information, contact:
Ben Deighton, WFSJ President
Email: bdeighton@wfsj.org | office@wfsj.org
Tel: +1 343 554 1393
WFSJ management update
11 July 2024
The Board of the World Federation of Science Journalists decided in a meeting on June 11 to appoint SciDev.Net Managing Editor Ben Deighton as its President, with Nepalese science journalist Chhatra Karki and Cameroonian science journalist Joseph Mbeng Boum as joint Vice-Presidents.
“Our focus as a Board will be to successfully deliver the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Africa next year, by ensuring that the Federation follows good governance and accountability both to its members and supporters,” said Ben Deighton.
The Officers of the Board are as follows:
President – Ben Deighton
Vice-President – Chhatra Karki
Vice-President – Joseph Mbeng Boum
Treasurer – Jean-Marc Fleury
Secretary – Lesley Evans Ogden
For more information, please contact Ben Deighton – bdeighton@wfsj.org or office@wfsj.org
Tel: +1 343 554 1393
Announcements
Travel grants to attend our AGM and the World Science Forum in Budapest
WFSJ can offer up to 30 travel grants to participate in our AGM on November 20 and attend the World Science Forum (WSF) in Budapest from November 20 to November 22, thanks to support from the Kavli Foundation. To be eligible, science journalists need to take part in one of four online WFSJ ethics workshops held in English on September 20 (2 pm UTC) and October 11 (8 am UTC); French, on September 25 (2 pm UTC), and Spanish, on October 2 (3 pm UTC), or to have participated in one of the earlier consultations on the Guiding Principles for Science Journalism. To register for one of the workshops, please fill out this form. To apply for a grant, please send an email to info@wfsj.org with the subject line WSF Travel Grant, detailing which workshop or consultation you participated in and which association you will represent at the AGM before the end of the day on Monday October 7.
WFSJ Annual General Meeting
Our Annual General Meeting will be held at the World Sciecne Forum in Budapest on 20 November 2024 as a hybrid in-person and virtual event. Delegates can attend either in-person or online. Member organizations with delegates who have participated in WFSJ ethics workshops are encouraged to give proxy voting permission to travel grant recipients so that they can attend and vote at the AGM on behalf of their full member organization. In order to vote at the AGM your organization’s membership dues must be paid for 2024 and the criteria for full membership must be met. Outstanding membership dues can be paid by contacting info@wfsj.org.
Nominations of Candidates for Board of Directors election
If you are interested in serving on the board of directors of the WFSJ, we encourage you to check your eligibility and then seek nomination with one of our full member associations. Nominations are open to any science journalist belonging to a Full Member association of the WFSJ provided their country of residence/citizenship is not already represented by a current board member. We seek science journalists of good standing that are passionate about positively contributing to the WFSJ board and organization. We are also seeking a board with diverse regional and gender representation.
The election will expand our board by adding four new members to our roster of continuing members: Joseph Mbeng Boum (he/him) Cameroon, Lesley Evans Ogden (she/her) Canada, Jean Marc Fleury (he/him) Canada, Chhatra Karki (he/him) Nepal, Ben Deighton (he/him) UK.
A reminder that two Canadian representatives are required on the Board of Directors by law to maintain WFSJ’s charitable status in Canada where the organization was founded and is officially registered. Under Canadian law, two Canadians must be present at all WFSJ board meetings for quorum.
Nominations can be sent to WFSJNomCom@gmail.com by 23:59 UTC on Friday October 4. Those seeking nomination must provide a CV (including contact email), letter of intent (maximum 600 words) highlighting skills, experience, gender identity, anticipated contributions to the board, how they would promote the Federation’s founding values of kindness and collaboration, and their vision for the Federation. Candidates are asked to submit a photograph and two letters of recommendations — one from a senior member of their national association — and two examples of their work, plus meeting minutes that show that their candidature has been supported by the board of their national association. The Nomination Committee will contact any individuals if there are issues with their applications and allow them five days to provide any missing information. Candidates for the election will be announced at 0900 UTC on Monday 21 October, after which the voting phase will begin.
Candidate manifestos, documents and their contact details will be emailed to voting representatives, with voting members encouraged to ask questions of candidates via email. Voting members will be asked to choose four candidates. The deadline for the first voting phase is 23:59 UTC Friday 1st November. Voting instructions will be sent to all full members.
We thank the Nominating Committee Lisbeth Fog (Colombia), Diran Onifade (Nigeria) and Pallab Ghosh (UK) for volunteering their time, on top of working as busy full time science journalists, to enable a smooth, transparent, trustworthy election process. The nomination committee can be reached for any questions at: WFSJNomCom@gmail.com
Call for Volunteers
We are actively recruiting volunteers from our member associations that are willing to commit approximately 4-5 hours per month, including meeting time, to assist on the following committees: communications (newsletter and social media), fundraising, partnerships, projects and governance advisory. If you’d like to contribute your skills and time to any of these areas, please get in touch at info@wfsj.org.
WCSJ 2025
The World Conference of Science Journalists 2025 (WCSJ 2025) will take place at the CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa from 1 – 5
Meet the recipients of the Kavli Prize week travel grants
The World Federation of Science Journalists and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters are delighted to announce the recipients of the three travel grants
Travel to Norway for the Kavli Prize Week!
CALL IS CLOSED Here’s a chance to become one of the science journalists who step into the fascinating world of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. WFSJ
WFSJ granted consultative status with the United Nations.
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