Events by Type
Field Trip
Hosted Event
Plenary
Preconference
Program Session
Symposium
University Event
Workshop
Redwoods of Northern California
THIS FIELD TRIP IS FULL. Registration fee: $45 Details: Wear comfortable hiking shoes. Trip organizer/speaker: Lynn Yarris, NCSWA/Todd Dawson, UC Berkeley Sponsored by: UC Berkeley NOTE: Start and end times given... Read More
Bodega Bay: Oysters, Abalone, and Ocean Acidification
Registration fee: $25 (lunch included) Details: Wear comfortable walking shoes Organizer: Kat Kerlin, UC Davis Strategic Communications Sponsored by: UC Davis Strategic Communications NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are... Read More
The Science of Wine – Robert Mondavi Institute
THE ORIGINAL FIELD TRIP TO NAPA HAS BEEN REPLACED. Due to the recent fires in the Napa Valley area, we regret that we have to cancel the tour of UC... Read More
UC Davis Innovative Energy Tour: Leading the Way to a Sustainable Future
Registration fee: $25 (lunch included) Details: Wear comfortable shoes Organizers: Stephen Kulieke, UC Davis Institute of Transportation; Alicia Loge, UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center Sponsored by: UC Davis Strategic Communications NOTE: Start... Read More
Earthquake Faults in the San Francisco Bay Area
Registration fee: $20 Details: Wear shoes suitable for outdoor walking on uneven surfaces. Dress in layers. Bring rain gear, water, hat, and sunscreen as appropriate. Organizer: Robert Finn, Univadis.com Sponsored by: US... Read More
Coastal Hazards in a Time of Rising Seas and Climate Change
Registration fee: $20 Details: Wear clothing and shoes suitable for outdoor walking on uneven surfaces. Bring rain gear, water, hat, and sunscreen as appropriate. Organizer: Robert Finn, Univadis.com Sponsored by: US Geological... Read More
Tour X, the Moonshot Factory
THIS FIELD TRIP IS FULL. Registration fee: $20 (lunch included) Organizer: Donna Alvarado Sponsored by: Alphabet’s X NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the... Read More
Nice Missile You Got There: New Tools for Nuclear Data Journalism at Planet
Registration fee: $25 (happy hour reception included) Organizer: Devon Terrill, The Stanley Foundation Sponsored by:The Stanley Foundation, The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and... Read More
Parks for Science, Science for Parks: UC Field Station at Point Reyes National Seashore
Registration fee: $25 (lunch included) Details: Wear shoes suitable for walking outdoors on the beach. Dress in layers. Bring rain gear, water, hat, and sunscreen as appropriate. Organizer: Kathleen Wong, UC... Read More
A Look Inside the World’s Largest Laser
Registration fee: $20 Sponsored by: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips depart from and return to the... Read More
Sea Otters, Sharks and Conservation at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Registration fee: $45 (lunch included) Organizer: Rob Irion, UC Santa Cruz Sponsored by: Monterey Bay Aquarium NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips... Read More
Earthquake Early Warning and the Hayward Fault
Registration fee: $20 (lunch included) Details: Wear comfortable walking shoes Organizer/speaker: Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley/Richard Allen, Director, Berkeley Seismological Laboratory Sponsored by: Berkeley Seismological Laboratory NOTE: Start and end times given... Read More
Meet the Innovators of Tomorrow’s Life Science Breakthroughs at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS
Registration fee: $20 (lunch included) Organizer: Mary Miller, Exploratorium Sponsored by: Johnson & Johnson Innovation NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips... Read More
Deep-sea Robots, Underwater Landslides and Creatures of Monterey Canyon
Registration fee: $25 Lunch: Available to purchase Details: Wear comfortable walking shoes Organizer: Wallace Ravven Sponsored by: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute NOTE: Start and end times given for field... Read More
Visit Bayer CoLaborator and Become a Pharma Employee for a Day
Registration fee: $20 (lunch included) Sponsored by: Bayer NOTE: Start and end times given for field trips are the times when the trips depart from and return to the Marriott Marquis... Read More
Exhibits Opening and Awards Celebration
Awards celebration co-sponsored by American Chemical Society and American Institute of Physics Join us in opening the conference exhibit hall and toasting award-winning science journalists around the world!
Opening Gala: Farm–>Table
Sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, WCSJ2017 Diamond Sponsor Tonight, we celebrate the conference with a reception at the stunning California Academy of Sciences. The evening’s theme, Farm–>Table, will showcase California’s... Read More
Closing Reception at the Exploratorium
WCSJ2017 will close with a celebration and reception at the Exploratorium on Pier 15 of San Francisco’s historic Embarcadero. Join us to see why in 2013 The New York Times named the... Read More
Preconference Symposium on New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy
A preconference event sponsored and organized by The Hastings Center Advanced registration required. CRISPR greatly enhances the ease and affordability of gene editing. It is being used to modify plants... Read More
Lunch and Tours: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
NOTE: The bus will depart at 12:15 from the UC Berkeley campus and return to campus at 4:30. Advanced registration required. One of America’s premier national laboratories will open its... Read More
University Events @ UC San Francisco
UC San Francisco (UCSF) is one of the premier health sciences universities in the world. It receives more funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health than any other public... Read More
University Events @ UC Berkeley
GENERAL REGISTRATION FOR SUNDAY EVENTS AT UC BERKELEY HAS CLOSED. If you have registered, you may edit your choices of on-campus events through October 12. Please be sure to make... Read More
27 October 2017
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 13-15
Luncheon – Preprints, Open Access, and the End of Ingelfinger: Issues at the Nexus of Publishing and Science Journalism Today
A luncheon event organized by eLife, with support from additional sponsors Advanced registration required. This hosted luncheon event will explore how changes in science publishing are affecting how research is conducted,... Read More
James Fraser
Rebecca Lawrence
Subhra Priyadarshini
Luncheon – The Power of Alpha: New Therapies for Cancer Patients?
A sponsored luncheon program offered by Bayer Advanced registration required. Even though 70 new therapies have been launched during the past five years, cancer is still the second leading cause... Read More
Luncheon – The DNA Damage Response – an emerging target for groundbreaking cancer therapies
A sponsored luncheon program offered by AstraZeneca Advanced registration required. Every day, the DNA in our cells is damaged tens of thousands of times by natural and external factors.(1) Fortunately,... Read More
27 October 2017
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salon 9
Luncheon – Who Will Do Science? International Perspectives from Women in STEM Leadership
Hosted event sponsored by 23andMe and Johnson & Johnson Innovation Advance registration required. Update November 6: Results of the audience survey taken at the luncheon are now posted. Download “Audience... Read More
Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan
Naledi Pandor
Miyoko O. Watanabe
Emily Drabant Conley
Seema Kumar
25 October 2017
8:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: SoMa Room
W0) 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop
A preconference workshop sponsored by Fundación Ealy Ortiz A.C. Advance registration required. The 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop will bring together more than... Read More
Enrique Bustamante Martinez
Opening Ceremony
Opening remarks by: Cristine Russell and Ron Winslow, co-chairs, WCSJ2017 Organizing Committee Curtis Brainard, president, World Federation of Science Journalists Enrique Bustamante Martinez, executive director, Fundación Ealy Ortiz S.A.
P1) Rewriting the Code of Life
Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world against its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist... Read More
Jennifer Doudna
P10) “One Test to Rule Them All”: Joe DeRisi in Conversation with Carl Zimmer
Joe DeRisi never rests in his pursuit of new technologies for finding and fighting mystery diseases. As a teen in the 1980s, DeRisi watched the AIDS epidemic catch the medical... Read More
Joe DeRisi
Carl Zimmer
Sam Hawgood
29 October 2017
11:15 am – 12:15 pm
- University of California, Berkeley: Wheeler Hall Auditorium
P11) Climate Change Primer: Responding to Global Impacts of Human Activity
California leads the United States in responding to global climate change as it tries to create a clean-energy economy, ameliorate the effects of global change and promote green businesses for... Read More
William Collins
Inez Fung
Kristina Hill
Daniel Kammen
David Sedlak
P2) Why the Wafflers Are Wrong: Addressing Climate Change Is Urgent—and a Bargain
In 2017, more than 80 percent of the world’s energy supply continues to come from burning coal, oil and natural gas, with complete release of the resulting carbon dioxide. Among... Read More
John P. Holdren
P3) The Art of Truth: Data Visualization and Infographics for Everyone
With facts and truth increasingly under assault, many interest groups have enlisted data visualization to support all manner of spin. Because digital images and graphics are inherently sharable and can... Read More
Alberto Cairo
P4) In Defense of Science
The Fifth Annual CASW Patrusky Lecture The scientific world is facing its greatest challenge in centuries. A facts-based, data-driven way of operating is being rejected as elitist. With this change... Read More
Susan Desmond-Hellmann
P5) Africa: The Cradle of Mathematical Sciences
In his address, Thierry Zomahoun will emphasize that history matters. Storytelling sets the tone for global perceptions of reality, which in turn influence the behavior of one group of people... Read More
Thierry Zomahoun
P6) A Delicate Balance: Immunity in Health, Disease and Medicine
From moment to moment, our immune system maintains a remarkable state of equilibrium, a tightrope act that is vital to our survival. On the one hand, the immune system must... Read More
Jeffrey Bluestone
P7) Book It: A Conversation Among Authors Mary Roach, Steve Silberman and Ed Yong
Two internationally known book authors—Steve Silberman, author of Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, and Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes—join fellow author and moderator... Read More
Steve Silberman
Mary Roach
Ed Yong
28 October 2017
4:45 pm – 6:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 8-9
P8) Science Journalism, Authoritarian Regimes, and Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience deceives millions of people every day. Although scientists and journalists try to expose baseless assertions, governments around the world often will make decisions based on such claims or on... Read More
Carla Da Silva Almeida
Jasson Muir Clarke
Dyna Rochmyaningsih
Sarah Wild
Mohammed Yahia
29 October 2017
8:00 am-9:15 am
- MARRIOTT MARQUIS: SALONS 8-9
P9.5) Closing Ceremony and Plenary: The Hazard Zone: Science Journalists Tackle Natural Disasters
The panelists in this late-breaking plenary, organized to address the recent spate of natural disasters, will discuss the challenges of covering earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, and other events.
Guillermo Lopez Portillo
Lesley McClurg
Eva Ruth Moravec
Brian Resnick
Erik Vance
Preconference Symposium on New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy
A preconference event sponsored and organized by The Hastings Center Advanced registration required. CRISPR greatly enhances the ease and affordability of gene editing. It is being used to modify plants... Read More
26 October 2017
8:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Sierra A
Student Journalist Orientation and Training
Open only to students funded by WCSJ2017 student travel fellowships. All U.S. and international student travel fellows will attend a mandatory half-day orientation and skills workshop to preview their assignments... Read More
Rob Irion
Diego Graglia
25 October 2017
8:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: SoMa Room
W0) 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop
A preconference workshop sponsored by Fundación Ealy Ortiz A.C. Advance registration required. The 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop will bring together more than... Read More
Enrique Bustamante Martinez
25 October 2017
9:30 am – 4:30 pm
- University of California, Davis (bus departs from Marriott Marquis)
W1) Feeding the World: Achieving Sustainable Agriculture
A preconference workshop sponsored by the Research Councils UK and produced by the World Federation of Science Journalists Advanced registration required. Participants should arrive in San Francisco by Tuesday evening,... Read More
Harry Surjadi
W2) Emerging Infectious Diseases: Post Zika in Latin America and the Caribbean
A preconference workshop sponsored by the Research Councils UK and produced by the World Federation of Science Journalists Advanced registration required. Description This half-day workshop will cover elements of the... Read More
Nora Bär
W3) Data Analysis in R for Journalists
Advance registration required. This hands-on workshop is designed for science journalists who have some experience or training in data journalism and are comfortable writing computer code and working with statistics.... Read More
Peter Aldhous
26 October 2017
2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Nob Hill Room
A1) Conflicts of Interest for Freelance Science Journalists
As well-paid, freelance commissions in science journalism become harder to find, freelancers are supplementing their income by providing science writing services to the public and private sectors, teaching or accepting... Read More
Brooke Borel
Federico Kukso
Mohammed Yahia
A2) Open Data and Global Drug Discovery
What if it turned out that all the data scientists needed to find new ways to diagnose and treat disease were already available for free online? As just one example,... Read More
Atul Butte
26 October 2017
2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 4-6
A3) Tapping Databases for Scientific Evidence on Health
Approximately 2.5 million new scientific papers are published each year, according to recent estimates. To keep up with the literature in a field such as cancer, for example, a person... Read More
Anurag Acharya
Roxanne Khamsi
Robert Logan
26 October 2017
2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salon 8
A4) Putting Character into Science—the Power of Profiles
What makes a good science profile, and when is it the right or wrong way to approach a story? We all know that one seemingly easy way to help a... Read More
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Christie Aschwanden
Jo Chandler
Jennifer Couzin-Frankel
John Travis
26 October 2017
2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 10-12
A5) The Future of Work
A range of technologies, including cloud and mobile computing, big data and machine learning, sensors and intelligent manufacturing, and robotics and drones, are transforming societies around the world. Nowhere will... Read More
Wayne Cascio
Kristian Hammond
Margaret Levi
Joan Williams
27 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Nob Hill Room
B1) Science Heard Around the World: Podcasting in the U.S. and Beyond
It seems as if we’re entering the golden age of podcasting: technological innovation has made it possible to launch a podcast from your own bedroom, and a growing audience is... Read More
Cynthia Graber
Antonio Martínez Ron
Luis Quevedo
Wendy Zukerman
27 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 1-3
B2) Decolonizing Science
Is it possible to decolonize science – a serious and thoughtful demand that’s been bubbling up of late, especially in the Global South? Is science captive to its history in... Read More
Sibusiso Biyela
Javier Cruz-Mena
Nolwazi Mkhwanazi
Padma Tata Venkata
27 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 4-6
B3) The Global Refugee Crisis: Changing Health Needs
An unprecedented 65 million people worldwide have been displaced from their homes, many by war, persecution and violence. The refugee crisis has ensnared people in Africa, the Middle East, Asia,... Read More
Hussam Jefee-Bahloul
Liliana Osorio
Carmen Rodriguez
Nancy Shute
27 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salon 8
B4) Third Interactive WCSJ House of Commons Debate: With Science Under Attack, Should Science Journalists Get Off the Sidelines?
In 2013, it was Helsinki; in 2015, it was Seoul. Now, San Francisco is about to fiercely debate a hot topic in science journalism. On the table: doing science journalism... Read More
27 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 10-12
B5) Can We Save the Oceans from Ourselves?
The ocean is arguably the planet’s greatest natural wonder, covering nearly three-quarters of the earth’s surface, providing many ecosystem services and supporting an abundance of life. Unfortunately, human activities are... Read More
Andrea Sáenz Arroyo
Malin Pinsky
Rashid Sumaila
27 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Nob Hill Room
C1) Science Journalism in Latin America: Past, Present and Future
Latin America is a region rich in science. Although science here lacks the financial support found in other regions, scientists engage in rigorous and important research throughout the continent. The... Read More
Daniela Hirschfeld
Federico Kukso
Paula Leighton
Gerardo Sifuentes Marin
Angela Posada-Swafford
27 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 1-3
C2) SESAME – A Scientific Source of Light for the Middle East
In May 2017, one of the world’s most unlikely laboratories opened for business. SESAME – Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East – is a new third... Read More
Roy Beck-Barkai
Maedeh Darzi
Nathanial Herzberg
Kirsi Lorentz
27 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 4-6
C3) Why Social Determinants Matter in Health Journalism
The belief in the ability to exert control over one’s life and environment is regarded as essential for both physical and mental well-being. Both philosophy and pop culture teach that... Read More
Paula Braveman
Mia Malan
K Srinath Reddy
Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla
27 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salon 8
C4) Covering Research on Lab Animals: Challenges and Opportunities
Biomedical research on lab animals is an increasingly contentious topic — and a tricky subject for the science journalists who cover it. The public is sharply divided over the ethics... Read More
Larry Carbone
David Grimm
Laura Helmuth
John Ngai
27 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 10-12
C5) The Rise of Digital Science Magazines
New digital outlets focusing on serious science journalism often anticipate that their “digital native” readers will be more engaged in the wider world and potentially more involved with their communities... Read More
Steven Bedard
Estrella Burgos
Stephen Embleton
Amanda Mascarelli
Rebecca Tan
27 October 2017
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Nob Hill Room
D1) Science’s Billionaire Backers: Philanthropy’s Role in Research
Philanthropists around the world are giving huge sums to science research. To name just a handful: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s commitment of $3 billion to biomedical research initiatives Paul... Read More
Cyndi Atherton
Aaron Horvath
Chonnettia Jones
Robert Tjian
27 October 2017
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 8-9
D2) The Challenges of Covering Sexual Harassment in Science
Sexual harassment in science burst into the public spotlight when a series of major media stories revealed serious allegations against prominent scientists in astrophysics, anthropology, biology, public health and medicine.... Read More
Rhitu Chatterjee
Azeen Ghorayshi
Frances Hellman
Meg Urry
27 October 2017
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 4-6
D3) The Challenges of Covering Infectious Disease Outbreaks
SARS. Bird flu. Ebola. Zika. Outbreaks of new or re-emerging diseases keep coming, and science, society and the media always seem to be caught off guard. Cases mount, scientists are... Read More
Helen Branswell
Martin Enserink
Duane J. Gubler
Dick Thompson
D4) Neurons from the Human Brain
Clinical case studies and laboratory experiments tell us that human consciousness is closely linked to electrical activity in the most complex piece of excitable matter in the known universe, the... Read More
Christof Koch
27 October 2017
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 14-15
D5) Power Pitch 2017
Advance signups for this session begin on September 6 and close on September 16. See details below. Welcome to Power Pitch 2017, where you’ll have the opportunity to sit across... Read More
Ross Andersen
Steven Bedard
Eric Betz
Estrella Burgos
Caty Enders
Seth Fletcher
Chrissie Giles
Laura Helmuth
Jude Isabella
Elizabeth Lopatto
Luisa Massarani
Derek Mead
Michael Mechanic
Lauren Morello
Katie Palmer
Noelle Swan
Mićo Tatalović
John Travis
Jacob Ward
Pamela Weintraub
Harry Wilson
Tom Zeller
28 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Nob Hill Room
E1) Land of The Giants: South American Dinosaurs and Antarctic Secrets
Dinosaurs are the stars of Latin American science, and usually dinosaur stories quickly spread around the world. In 2012 in the southernmost corner of the Americas, Argentine paleontologists discovered the... Read More
Sebastián Apesteguía
Soledad Gouiric Cavalli
Diego Pol
28 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 1-3
E2) There Is a 95% Chance You Should Attend this Session on Statistics
If you are a science journalist—and we think there is a high probability that you are—you will encounter research with “statistically significant” findings. Some of us regularly report on studies—in... Read More
Christie Aschwanden
Andrew Gelman
Kristin Sainani
Tom Siegfried
28 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 4-6
E3) Slow-Motion Epidemics: The Global Threat of Chronic Disease
Infectious diseases such as Ebola make headlines as public health threats in poor countries and as fear factors when they spread to rich ones, but slow-motion epidemics of chronic diseases... Read More
Jorge Gomez
Lawrence Gostin
Silvana Luciani
Marilynn Marchione
28 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salon 8
E4) Fact-checking: The Future of Journalism?
Since last year, we have heard a lot about fake news. Fact-checking items have multiplied in the North American and European media. Science still has little place in this trend... Read More
Eve Beaudin
Brooke Borel
Gary Dagorn
Alex Kasprak
28 October 2017
10:45 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis
E5) Reporting on Genome Editing: An International Discussion
Genome editing is one of the fastest-moving stories in science today. The 2012 introduction of CRISPR technology, which allows scientists to rewrite genomes with ease and precision, has sparked an... Read More
Xiaoxue Chen
Pallab Ghosh
Natasha Mitchell
Antonio Regalado
Valeria Román
28 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Nob Hill Room
F1) Conflicting Data: Dealing with the Reproducibility Issue
There is nothing worse than getting a story wrong. But what happens when the science itself is wrong? More than half of scientists today think that there is a substantial... Read More
Monya Baker
Mina J. Bissell
Bibiana Campos-Seijo
Ivan Oransky
Mohammed Yahia
28 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 1-3
F2) Astronomy’s Next Big Things
Life beyond Earth. Dark matter and dark energy. Event horizons around supermassive black holes. It is hard to imagine a more enigmatic set of cosmic mysteries. Perhaps their allure has... Read More
Sheperd Doeleman
Joshua A. Frieman
Lisa Harvey-Smith
Catherine Walsh
28 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 4-6
F3) Reporting with Clarity on Vaccines and Vaccine Development
One of the most striking results of the 2016 State of Vaccine Confidence study, which surveyed 65,819 individuals in 67 countries, is that in France, Pasteur’s home, 41 percent of... Read More
Ève Dubé
Serusha Govender
Andrew Holtz
Cécile Klingler
Mark Miller
F4) Economic Inequality, Violence, and Life in a Changing Climate
If the global climate warms, how will this affect human societies around the world? Science fiction books and movies speculate about possible futures, but what do the data say? A... Read More
Solomon Hsiang
28 October 2017
1:30 pm – 2:45 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salon 9
F5) The Human Ethics of Global Crisis Reporting
Science is at the heart of many of the world’s greatest crises, including infectious disease outbreaks, weather and climate related catastrophes, and energy sector exploitation and accidents. When science journalists... Read More
Ramesh Bhushal
Margie Mason
Natasha Mmonatau
Izabela Moi
Josué Rivas
G1) A Modestly Grandiose Proposal for How Scientists and Journalists Might Save the World, Up for Discussion
There is a body of techniques and practices, a language and culture, that scientists learn by apprenticeship and osmosis as they train. These form the underpinnings of an approach to... Read More
Saul Perlmutter
28 October 2017
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 1-3
G2) Covering Indigenous Voices in Science
There is no greater science-and-society gap than the one between scientists and indigenous people. To bridge this gap, researchers and health journalists are charged with being sensitive, open and understanding... Read More
Gunn Britt Retter
Padma Tata Venkata
Phil McKenna
Thiago Medaglia
28 October 2017
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 4-6
G3) Antibiotic Resistance: The Next Challenges
There is near-universal recognition now that antibiotic resistance, generated by overuse and misuse in medicine and agriculture, is a grave global problem. It accounts for an estimated 700,000 deaths per... Read More
Ramanan Laxminarayan
Maryn McKenna
Kevin Outterson
Tara C. Smith
28 October 2017
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 8+9
G4) Innovating for Development
About 700 million people in the world live below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day, with spotty access to electricity, sanitation and health care. These are the people... Read More
Trevor Mundel
Nathan Myhrvold
Rosalia Omungo
28 October 2017
3:15 pm – 4:30 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 10-12
G5) Stories Don’t Stop at Borders, So Journalists Shouldn’t Either
Science is an international business, major stories are cross-border or even global and the need for independent journalism to reflect this is vital. Yet the constraints journalists face regarding their... Read More
Helen Briggs
Ides Debruyne
Christabel Ligami
Anna Valmero
29 October 2017
2:00 pm – 3:15 pm
- University of California, Berkeley: Alumni House Toll Room
H1) Mobile Technology, Newsroom and Citizen Engagement
How can media make the most of mobile technology to distribute news? Panelists in this session will share their experiences in using mobile technology — SMS, bluetooth, smart phone applications... Read More
Shubhranshu Choudhary
Harry Surjadi
29 October 2017
2:00 pm – 3:15 pm
- University of California, Berkeley: Maude Fife Room (315)
H2) Make ‘em Sizzle: Turn Up the Heat on Slow Environmental Stories
Covering the slow-burn, unsexy stories of long-term environmental crises can be a greater challenge than ever for science journalists working in a 24/7 news cycle. Too often coverage bends inexorably... Read More
Jennifer Burney
Gustavo Faleiros
Subhra Priyadarshini
29 October 2017
2:00 pm – 3:15 pm
- University of California, Berkeley: Wheeler Hall Auditorium
H3) Cutting-Edge Nuclear Technology: Which Questions Matter?
How should science reporters write about nuclear technology — both fission and fusion? Should they focus on the scientific, the engineering and the safety aspect? Or should they also include... Read More
Richard Buttery
Nathan Myhrvold
Per Peterson
Sonja Schmid
29 October 2017
2:15 pm – 3:30 pm
- UCSF Mission Bay Campus
I1) Engaging Your Audience with Poop Jokes and Other Funny Elements
Which would you rather read: an article about a new superconductor made of hydrogen sulfide or a superconductor made of farts? Or better yet, which article would you rather cover?... Read More
Helena González Burón
Rachel Feltman
Adam Rogers
Joel Warner
29 October 2017
2:15 pm – 3:30 pm
- UCSF Mission Bay Campus
I2) When Will Healthcare Reach Digital Nirvana?
Over the past decade, healthcare has gone from an information business whose backbone was the three-ring binder and the fax machine, to a digital business. Shockingly, this transition has not... Read More
Julia Adler-Milstein
Udi Manber
Robert Wachter
29 October 2017
2:15 pm – 3:30 pm
- UCSF Mission Bay Campus
I3) Leveling the Playing Fields: Science Journalism and Big Food
“Big Food” corporations (which include both food and beverage companies) have some of the largest marketing budgets in the world. These budgets buy a great deal of airtime and sophisticated... Read More
Alejandro Calvillo Unna
Kerry Cullinan
Harry Dugmore
Shalini Anand
McKay Jenkins
I4) Engineered Cells: The Medicines of Tomorrow
With the much-heralded success of the modified immune cells known as CAR-T cells in the treatment of leukemia, we’re growing accustomed to the idea that, in very limited circumstances, human... Read More
Wendell Lim
29 October 2017
3:30 pm – 4:45 pm
- University of California, Berkeley: Maude Fife Room (315)
J1) Innovative Approaches to Teaching Science Journalism
There may be as many different approaches to teaching science journalism as there are fields to cover. This session is aimed at academics, journalists and communicators who are teaching science journalism... Read More
Gustavo Faleiros
Joydeep Gupta
Jennifer Kahn
29 October 2017
3:30 pm – 4:45 pm
- University of California, Berkeley: Wheeler Hall Auditorium
J2) “Contact” Plus 20: Where We Are in the Search for Aliens
2017 marks 20 years since the movie “Contact” was released, and it still holds up as a classic story about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI. But the search... Read More
Guillem Anglada Escude
Seth Shostak
Jill Tarter
Dan Werthimer
Wilson da Silva
29 October 2017
3:30 pm – 4:45 pm
- University of California, Berkeley: Alumni House Toll Room
J3) Exploring and Managing Earth’s Microbiome
Cheap DNA sequencing has transformed the field of biology, revealing everything from the genetic drivers of cancer to the keys to human evolution. Today, scientists can even afford to sequence... Read More
Jill Banfield
Nicholas Bouskill
Susan Lynch
29 October 2017
4:00 pm – 5:15 pm
- UCSF Mission Bay Campus
K1) Ringing in the Changes: The Role of Advocacy Journalism in Telling Science Stories
Can advocacy journalism, which demands close involvement, and science journalism, which requires distance, be bedfellows? Do journalists relinquish their objectivity when advocating on an issue? Is it necessary for science... Read More
Akin Jimoh
Jop De Vrieze
William H. Funk
K2) Undercover Science Journalism
Undercover reporting—doing a journalistic investigation while pretending not be a journalist—has been interwoven with science and health journalism probably since Nellie Bly’s famous 1887 book, Ten Days in a Mad-House.... Read More
Hristio Boytchev
Ramu Sapkota
Faye Kirkland
K3) Stem Cells: The Hype and the Hope
Hope is at an all-time high around the potential of stem cells to cure disease. The first clinical trial using induced pluripotent stem cells to treat macular degeneration is ongoing... Read More
Deepak Srivastava
K4) Progress, Pitfalls, and Prospects: An “Un-Lecture” on Cancer
The advances we have made in understanding cancer over the past decade have been so rapid and profound that clichés often attached to scientific process—revolution, paradigm shift, Golden Age—seem almost... Read More
Alan Ashworth
P1) Rewriting the Code of Life
Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world against its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist... Read More
Jennifer Doudna
P10) “One Test to Rule Them All”: Joe DeRisi in Conversation with Carl Zimmer
Joe DeRisi never rests in his pursuit of new technologies for finding and fighting mystery diseases. As a teen in the 1980s, DeRisi watched the AIDS epidemic catch the medical... Read More
Joe DeRisi
Carl Zimmer
Sam Hawgood
P3) The Art of Truth: Data Visualization and Infographics for Everyone
With facts and truth increasingly under assault, many interest groups have enlisted data visualization to support all manner of spin. Because digital images and graphics are inherently sharable and can... Read More
Alberto Cairo
P4) In Defense of Science
The Fifth Annual CASW Patrusky Lecture The scientific world is facing its greatest challenge in centuries. A facts-based, data-driven way of operating is being rejected as elitist. With this change... Read More
Susan Desmond-Hellmann
P6) A Delicate Balance: Immunity in Health, Disease and Medicine
From moment to moment, our immune system maintains a remarkable state of equilibrium, a tightrope act that is vital to our survival. On the one hand, the immune system must... Read More
Jeffrey Bluestone
P7) Book It: A Conversation Among Authors Mary Roach, Steve Silberman and Ed Yong
Two internationally known book authors—Steve Silberman, author of Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, and Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes—join fellow author and moderator... Read More
Steve Silberman
Mary Roach
Ed Yong
28 October 2017
4:45 pm – 6:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Salons 8-9
P8) Science Journalism, Authoritarian Regimes, and Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience deceives millions of people every day. Although scientists and journalists try to expose baseless assertions, governments around the world often will make decisions based on such claims or on... Read More
Carla Da Silva Almeida
Jasson Muir Clarke
Dyna Rochmyaningsih
Sarah Wild
Mohammed Yahia
Preconference Symposium on New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy
A preconference event sponsored and organized by The Hastings Center Advanced registration required. CRISPR greatly enhances the ease and affordability of gene editing. It is being used to modify plants... Read More
Lunch with a Scientist @ UC Berkeley
Registration is required. Partake of the tastiest new science during lunch with UC Berkeley scientists discussing the upside of stress and the science of pain and itch, as well as... Read More
Lunch with a Scientist @ UC San Francisco
Registration is required. Meet a schizophrenia researcher who developed the illness himself, and hear first-hand how that experience changed his science. Discuss how science communication could itself be improved through... Read More
Lunch and Tours: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
NOTE: The bus will depart at 12:15 from the UC Berkeley campus and return to campus at 4:30. Advanced registration required. One of America’s premier national laboratories will open its... Read More
UC Berkeley Campus and Lab Tours
If you have registered to attend sessions, lunch and tours at UC Berkeley, you will have the option to sign up for a tour during the first three days of... Read More
UCSF/BASF Science Expo
Open to all registrants attending sessions at UCSF. No signup required. Presented in conjunction with the Bay Area Science Festival, at UCSF’s Science Expo you will: Experience holographic surgical planning.... Read More
Tour of Memory & Aging Center and Neuroscape Lab @UCSF
Registration is required. Join a hands-on exploration of Adam Gazzaley’s Neuroscape Lab, where neuroscience, technology, computer gaming, and the arts drive new strategies to enhance cognition. Also visit Bruce Miller’s... Read More
Tour of Gladstone Institutes and Human Performance Center @UCSF
Registration is required. This tour will be offered twice. Visit the state-of-the-art Gladstone Institutes, an academically affiliated research enterprise next to UCSF’s Mission Bay Campus, where Gladstone scientists will demonstrate... Read More
Tour of Science Up Close @UCSF
Registration is required. This tour will be offered twice. Come to Genentech Hall, considered the biotech heart of the Mission Bay campus, to see the latest scientific tools in action.... Read More
29 October 2017
12:30 pm – 1:45 pm
- UCSF Mission Bay Campus
Flagship Lunch @ UCSF: Provocative issues in cancer — immunotherapy, when not to treat, global cancer burden
Registration is required. Gather for lunch with pioneers of tomorrow’s cancer treatments. At this informal event, sponsored by the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC) and moderated by acclaimed journalist... Read More
Adil Daud
Laura Esserman
Katherine Van Loon
26 October 2017
8:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: Sierra A
Student Journalist Orientation and Training
Open only to students funded by WCSJ2017 student travel fellowships. All U.S. and international student travel fellows will attend a mandatory half-day orientation and skills workshop to preview their assignments... Read More
Rob Irion
Diego Graglia
25 October 2017
8:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Marriott Marquis: SoMa Room
W0) 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop
A preconference workshop sponsored by Fundación Ealy Ortiz A.C. Advance registration required. The 2017 Latin American Edition of the Jack F. Ealy Science Journalism Workshop will bring together more than... Read More
Enrique Bustamante Martinez
25 October 2017
9:30 am – 4:30 pm
- University of California, Davis (bus departs from Marriott Marquis)
W1) Feeding the World: Achieving Sustainable Agriculture
A preconference workshop sponsored by the Research Councils UK and produced by the World Federation of Science Journalists Advanced registration required. Participants should arrive in San Francisco by Tuesday evening,... Read More
Harry Surjadi
W2) Emerging Infectious Diseases: Post Zika in Latin America and the Caribbean
A preconference workshop sponsored by the Research Councils UK and produced by the World Federation of Science Journalists Advanced registration required. Description This half-day workshop will cover elements of the... Read More
Nora Bär
W3) Data Analysis in R for Journalists
Advance registration required. This hands-on workshop is designed for science journalists who have some experience or training in data journalism and are comfortable writing computer code and working with statistics.... Read More
Peter Aldhous
29 October 2017
10:45 am – 1:45 pm
- UCSF Mission Bay Campus. Bus departs Marriott Marquis at 10 AM
W4) Industry Documents: Gold Mines for High-Impact Stories
Advanced registration required. Through decades of lobbying, the tobacco industry has provided a blueprint for using, or even corrupting, scientists to muddle evidence and meddle in public policies around the... Read More
Stanton Glantz
Cristin Kearns
Rachel Taketa
29 October 2017
2:00 pm – 4:45 pm
- University of California, Berkeley: Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS), Doe Library
W5) Data Journalism: How to Turn Data into Stories
Advanced registration required. So you finally got your hands on some data. After sending requests and cajoling sources for months, an email finally arrives with a link. You click it... Read More