ORGANISING COMMITTEE MEMBER

Serusha Govender

Serusha Govender is a seasoned South African science and technology journalist with more than 15 years of experience. Her incisive reporting, featured in outlets like the BBC, CNN Health, GOOD Magazine, Al Jazeera, NPR, and Voice of America News, brings crucial attention to the Global South, amplifying marginalized voices and challenging gender and minority stereotypes.

Serusha’s reporting work has taken her from conflict zones to grassroots communities across Africa, the Americas, Indonesia, the Middle East and Europe where she’s covered the intersections of science, technology, health, climate, and human rights. She worked closely with initiatives to support local science journalists during periods of polycrisis in West Africa during the Ebola outbreak and Brazil during the Zika outbreak, leading to a fellowship at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford, producing research on improving health communications during outbreaks. She then served as the journalist-in-residence at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium where she also contributed to the bi-annual ECTMIH conference on tropical diseases.

With a solid foundation in Science Journalism from Columbia University, Serusha’s work also delves into emerging technology and gender rights. As the Mo Ibrahim Fellow at Chatham House, she investigated the intersection of the metaverse, AI, and EDI policy. Currently an Academy Associate, she explores gender safety and inclusion in the metaverse. Additionally, she is actively involved with the Women in Tech Network, Tech Nation (UK), and the World Metaverse Council. Her goal is to foster meaningful dialogue and galvanize opportunities to promote incisive science journalism globally.