The board of the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) selected a new leadership last December and Ben Deighton, an ABSW board member, was appointed as the new Secretary.
For the next two years, Indonesia’s Harry Surjadi will be the President and he will be supported by Colombia’s Ximena Serrano Gil as Vice-President, Canada’s Lesley Evans Ogden as Treasurer, and Ben Deighton as Secretary. (Meet WFSJ board members.)
“The Association of British Science Writers welcomes the election of a strong new leadership, including our board member Ben Deighton as Secretary”, says Andy Extance, ABSW’s President. “As the world faces unprecedented challenges posed by what UN Secretary-General António Guterres last year called 'global boiling', we need quality science journalism more than ever before. It's therefore imperative that the world's writers and broadcasters come together to learn from each other. To do that, we need a strong World Federation of Science Journalists.”
Ben Deighton is the Managing Editor of SciDev.Net, the world’s biggest news service covering science in a development context. In his new role as WFSJ Secretary, Ben says he hopes to: “bring together science journalists from global South and global North countries, to enable science journalists around the world to do their jobs more effectively, by understanding each other better, by sharing skills and knowledge, and by getting access to more resources”.
“Building Global Networks” will also be the theme of the London 2027 WCSJ (World Conference of Science Journalists) to be hosted by ABSW. “I believe London can be a place where these global networks meet and learn from each other”, says Ben Deighton, who will use his position on both boards to prepare for this world conference.
Ben is the ABSW Board’s European Representative, working to foster relationships with other European science journalists and science writers associations.
