More than 1,000 reporters and scientific writers will gather in Lausanne from 1 to 5 July 2019 to attend the 11th edition of the World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ). The biennial event will be held at the SwissTech Convention Center, on the campus of the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Lausanne (UNIL). Through creative workshops, mobile debates, brainstorming discussions and tutorials, participants will have the opportunity to share good practices, discover new tools and reflect on the values of the profession of science journalism.
The choice of the Swiss city was made on October 28 in San Francisco during the 2017 WCSJ. The bid for organizing the next edition of the conference in Lausanne was initiated by the Swiss Association for Science Journalism (ASJS) together with its French and Italian counterparts, and received widespread support from Switzerland’s academic, political and economic institutions. Strong support also came from all over Europe, notably from the European Commission and institutions such as the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
More than mountains and chocolate
The Lausanne area is home to high quality schools of higher education, well-known multinationals and numerous start-ups active in life sciences. “This conference is a unique opportunity for Switzerland to demonstrate to journalists from around the world that behind our famous mountains and chocolate lies a center of scientific excellence,” said Nicolas Bideau, head of Presence Switzerland.
