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More that 500 science communicators from around the globe are expected to attend the Third World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) in Brazil, November 24-27, 2002, at the Universidade do Vale do Paraíba (Univap) in São José dos Campos ( Sao Paulo State), home of the Brazilian space agency (INPE) and the aviation giant Embraer.
Although the majority of participants will no doubt be from Latin America, representatives of almost all major national, regional, and international organizations, such as the (US) National Association of Science Writers, the International Federation of Environmental Journalists, and the European Union of Science Journalism Associations--and of almost every continent are expected to attend.
Hosted by the Brazilian Association of Science Journalism (ABJC) and supported by both governmental agencies and private foundations, the international event--known as "WCSJ Brazil 2002" -- will be held in conjunction with the Seventh Brazilian Conference of Science Journalism, thus marking both the twenty- fifth anniversary of the ABJC's founding and the tenth anniversary of the first world conference, held in Tokyo, Japan, in November 1992. The second world conference was held in Budapest, Hungary, in July 1999, following the World Science Congress sponsored by UNESCO.
On the conference agenda, in addition to the usual plenary sessions, panels, posters, and presentations by some international superstars of science writing, will be scientific and literary discussions, ample happy hours, technical visits to local research centers, and, hopefully, the official founding of a new global journalism association, the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ).
Not surprisingly, ISWA has been intimately involved in the concept of a world federation--and WCSJ 2002 Brazil. The federation was originally proposed in Tokyo in 1992, reintroduced as part of the Budapest Declaration in 1999, and formally defined by an ad hoc group (including several ISWA members) who met in Tokyo at the International Conference of Science and Technical Journalists last October. A check of the conference website <www.abjc.org.br/congresso> will show a number of members are speakers and panelists as well as on the international advisory committee. And, most important, a driving force behind all the Brazilian efforts has been member Fabiola de Oliveira.
In the latest program development, two distinguished science journalists have agreed to present keynote addresses. The Pulitzer Prize-winning John Noble Wilford of The New York Times will address the issue of "Media, Science, and Power;" and, the well-known Brazilian writer Lúcio Flávio de Faria Pinto will describe "Science Journalism in Amazonia." Additional details of the program, registration forms, and paper and poster submission procedures, as well as background on Brazilian science and culture, and travel tips, can be found at the conference website in both English and Portuguese.
The current draft of the WFSJ Constitution