Ben Deighton
President
Ben Deighton is the Managing Editor of SciDev.Net, the world’s biggest news service covering science in a development context. Ben is responsible for SciDev.Net’s strategic direction and for overseeing SciDev.Net content, ensuring its editorial independence and the quality of articles and multimedia products.
Ben has been a journalist for over 20 years and worked as a correspondent for Reuters in London and Brussels covering tech startups and biotechnology companies. Ben was founding editor of Horizon magazine, a Brussels-based publication looking at European science. Ben started out as a journalist covering crime and transport for a local newspaper, and was also editor of a magazine focussed on the global veterinary medicines sector.
Ben is also a board member of the Association of British Science Writers.
Chhatra Karki
Vice President - Projects
Chhatra Karki is a science journalist and editor based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He holds the role of Program Director at the Nepal Forum of Science Journalists (NFSJ) and boasts a wealth of experience spanning over two decades in print, multimedia, and online journalism. Chhatra’s reporting encompasses a wide range of topics, including science, health, climate change, environment, technology, neuroscience and current events, which he covers for both national and international media outlets.
Notably, Chhatra has previously held the position of Bureau Chief at Nagarik Daily Newspaper and has served as the Editor of NepalNews, which is Nepal’s first online news portal. Presently, he contributes as a Nepal Writer for gavi.org, where his articles explore subjects such as environmental health, public health, scientific research, and vaccines.
Lesley Evans Ogden
Vice-President - Communications
Lesley Evans Ogden is a multimedia science journalist working from the unceded, traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, near Vancouver, Canada. Published internationally in outlets including the New York Times, Nature, BBC and Natural History, she also writes and edits for science documentaries broadcast by CBC, Arte, and PBS. She pursued journalism after a PhD in wildlife ecology. Bringing the complexity, wonder, and nuance of science to diverse audiences, she is drawn to stories about nature, the environment, health, and human rights. Previously serving on the board of the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada, she was nominated to the WFSJ board by the National Association of Science Writers (US). Lesley is committed to building bridges of trust between scientists and journalists. She passionately supports transparency, accountability and educational opportunities at WFSJ.
Joseph MBENG BOUM
Vice-President Conferences
Joseph MBENG BOUM has nearly 13 years of experience in science journalism. In August 2023, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the World Federation of Science Journalists for a renewable two-year term. Since 2022, he has been Coordinator of the Science Journalism Forum for French-speaking Africa. Elected National President of the Association of Science Journalists and Communicators for Health Promotion (AJC-PROSANTE) in 2020, he was re-elected on October 27, 2023, for a 03-year term. Member of the Réseau des Journalistes Scientifiques d’Afrique Francophone (RJSAF) and Member of the Science Journalists Network of Cameroon (SCILIFE). Since 2016, he has been CEO and Publication Director of ECHOS SANTE Daily (African daily for health, environmental and sustainable development news). October 2019 to date: Publishing Director of Journal Afrik Environnement – www.afrikenvironnement.info
Aleida Rueda
Secretary
Aleida Rueda is a science journalist based in Mexico City. She graduated in Journalism from the National University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds a master degree in Journalism for News Agencies from the University Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, which included an internship at EFE Agency in Cairo, Egypt. She also did a Diploma Course on Journalism for Developing Countries at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, in New Delhi. Aleida has written about science since 2004 and her work has appeared in several magazines, TV and radio outlets, some of which have been awarded with national and international awards on science journalism. She has been a freelance journalist for SciDev.Net since 2006 and also works as a science writer in the Center of Complex Sciences, at UNAM. Aleida is the co-founder and former president of the Mexican Network of Science Journalists (RedMPC).
Jean-Marc Fleury
Treasurer
Jean-Marc Fleury is associate professor, Département d’information et de communication Université Laval, Québec City, Canada. He was previously the first Chair of the Science Journalism Chair at Université Laval, first Executive Director of the World Federation of Science Journalists, Director of the International Development Research Centre (Canada) Communications Division, editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Québec Science and science journalist at the newspaper Le Soleil (Québec City).
Agatha Ngotho
Director
Agatha Ngotho is a Science Writer at Radio Africa Group’s-The Star newspaper, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
She brings over 10 years of experience in science reporting, with a focus on climate change, food and nutrition security, biodiversity, and one-health, with a particular emphasis on gender and climate change issues.
She is a former Board Member of the Media for Environment, Science, Health, and Agriculture (MESHA) in Kenya.
Agatha is committed to fostering global collaboration and advancing the role of science journalism in addressing critical societal challenges.
Debbie Ponchner
Director
Debbie Ponchner is an award-winning science journalist based in Costa Rica and the editor of Knowable en español.
She worked as a science reporter, editor and managing editor for La Nación, the newspaper of record for this Central American country. In 2014 she moved to New York to create and lead the Spanish language website of Scientific American, a project that ran until 2017. She is also part of the editorial team of The Open Notebook where she contributes as a translations editor. She was a 2003–04 Knight Science Journalism Fellow and is a board member of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.
Subhra Priyadarshini
Director
Subhra Priyadarshini is the Chief Editor of Nature India and Global Supported Projects at Nature Portfolio. A zoologist, management graduate, lawyer and journalist by training, she launched Nature India in 2007 after spending 12 years with major Indian dailies The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Asian Age, The Telegraph, India’s premier news agency Press Trust of India and Down To Earth magazine. She worked briefly for the Observer, London.
Subhra is a British Chevening scholar, a Robert Bosch fellow, an IREX-UNESCO fellow and a Kavli Prize Media Scholarship awardee. She received the BBC World Service Trust award for her coverage of the ‘Vanishing Islands of Sunderbans’ in the Bay of Bengal and the PANOS South Asia Media Excellence Award for her incisive coverage of climate change issues. She won acclaim in India for her coverage of the Orissa super cyclone in 1999 and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.
Subhra is on the Boards of Study/Advisory Boards of a few Indian institutes and organizations focused on science and health communication. She is the founder President of the science Journalists Association of India. Subhra is on the advisory panel for India’s Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 and on the expert panel of the World Health Organization (WHO) on communicating and disseminating research to policymakers. Subhra is the Mentoring Chair of Springer Nature’s employee network SN Women.
View Alumni Here