NEWS
WFSJ in South Africa
14 December 2023
Science journalism took a leading role at Science Forum South Africa (SFSA) 2023.
As the country’s Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Blade Nzimande, looked on, Milica said: “The next World Conference of Science Journalists will be held in Pretoria in December 2025 … This is the first time that the World Federation of Science Journalists is going to have a conference on African soil. “I would like to thank Minister Nzimande … and would like to ask him to be a patron of our event in 2025.”
The theme for the Forum was Igniting Conversations About Science – People, Partnerships, Priorities for the Decadal Plan.
With 3 730 local and international delegates, SFSA is arguably the biggest science gathering in South Africa and continues to grow each year. SFSA 2023 hosted 26 pre-Forum side events that took place from 4 to 6 December, and from 7 to 8 December, 55 parallel panel sessions took place with discussions spread over 9 tracks.
WFSJ board members organised two sessions – one on the role of AI in newsrooms and one on the practice of science journalism – as part of a track dedicated to science journalism at the event.
During the opening ceremony, WFSJ President Milica Momcilovic gave a speech to launch WCSJ 2025 – which will take place at the same venue.
A booth promoting WCSJ was placed next to the conference entrance, making the WFSJ logo the first thing that delegates saw on arriving at the venue.
Giving the final speech of the conference, WFSJ Vice-President Mandi Smallhorne said: “I’m here representing science journalists – the people who shine a light on science, tell stories about science, who hold science accountable, who make science meaningful. I am here to announce that we are launching our website wcsj2025.org.”