| 27 June 2011 | to | 29 June 2011 |
With less than three weeks to go until the World Conference of Science Journalists 2011 in Doha, Qatar, conference rooms are being readied, lunch menus fixed, hotel rooms prepared, airport shuttles booked and most importantly speakers are putting the finishing touches to their presentations. If you have yet to book your place for what will be an inspiring, provocative look at the past, present and future of science journalism there are still delegate places available. To register for the Conference visit: http://www.wcsj2011.org/user/register . Rates start at just $400/273 EUR for the full conference (lower rates are available for students). Hotel accommodation has been arranged at a special rate of 200 Qrs per night equivalent to $55/38 EUR. You can also enjoy the Conference’s special airline discount with Qatar Airlines (up to 25% off listed prices) visit http://www.wcsj2011.org/visasforqatar for details.
It is not often that science journalists take time out to reflect on their profession, and only every two years that we do this on an international scale – so act now to make sure you don’t miss out.
The WCSJ2011 – bringing cultures together
The World Conference of Science Journalists is a bi-annual event of the World Federation of Science Journalists. The co-hosts for 2011 are the Arab Science Journalists Association (ASJA) and the National Association of Science Writers (NASW).
The Main Menu – The Programme
A word from the Programme Director, Deborah Blum
As this is the first world conference to be held in an Arab country and in a developing region of the world, we wanted this program to represent those perspectives and to be inclusive of journalists – and journalistic storytelling – from a range of countries and cultures not often represented in international conferences.
Here you will find science writers from Egypt, Pakistan, Qatar, and Lebanon sharing their stories with journalists from Chile, Argentina and Brazil, adding their knowledge to that of reporters from Russia, China, India and Japan, joining their work with communicators from France, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, and building on the perspective of science writers from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Our program begins and ends with perspectives on journalism in the Arab world, concluding with a look at journalism and democracy. We are proud that the conference is representative of the original location of the conference in Cairo, Egypt, and acknowledges the generosity and commitment of Qatar Foundation to keeping this meeting in an Arab country. Within this program, you will also find a wide range of issues on both a regional scale (the challenges of storytelling in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia, for instance) and on a global scale (explorations of climate change, emerging diseases, agriculture, natural disasters, and the physical sciences). There are sessions for those seeking to improve their skills in everything from narrative storytelling to the latest in digital skills. You will also find explorations of media ethics and science ethics, lessons on how to create a great radio program or a brilliant documentary film and on how to use social media and what that use may mean for the future of journalism. To help navigate these, you’ll find a program clearly organized by “tracks” ranging from biomedical to best practices.
For the full programme visit http://www.wcsj2011.org/program. The Conference venue is the brand new Student Centre of the Qatar Foundation’s Education City. Education City covers 14 square kilometres and houses educational facilities from school age to research level and branch campuses of some of the world’s leading universities, making this a superb setting for the WCSJ2011. For more on the venue see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_City