Media Release

For immediate release
February 17, 2006

Leading science communicators announced as faculty of innovative Banff Centre program

Applications have just opened for The Banff Centre’s new Science Communications residency and the program already has reason to boast. It has been confirmed that some of the world’s leading science communicators will come together as faculty for the two week residency. Aimed at scientists and communicators keen to explore new ways of presenting science, the program will take place at The Banff Centre, August 14 to 26, 2006; the application deadline is April 14, 2006.

Co-host of Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet and one of Canada’s most popular writers and broadcasters, Jay Ingram is chair of the new Science Communications program at The Banff Centre. “The faculty for this first year of the program is sensational,” Ingram says. “They are experienced, accomplished, and have created wonderful examples of science communication in radio, print, television, exhibition, the world wide web, and drama; they will make this an incredibly dynamic session.”

Among others, faculty for the program include: Peter Calamai, national science reporter for the Toronto Star and founder of the Canadian Science Writer’s Association; Thomas Hayden, former Newsweek and US News & World Report staffer and current professor of science writing at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Henry Kowalski, 25 years of experience with CBC and CTV including leading the successful remakes of W Five and Canada AM and launching CTV’s 24-hour news channel; and Lawrence M. Krauss, author (The Physics of Star Trek), essayist for newspapers such as The New York Times, and international leader in cosmology and astrophysics.

All faculty members have a proven commitment to excellence and creativity that will help the program foster new attitudes, experiences, and skills for innovative kinds of art, culture, and dialogue involving science. Part of The Banff Centre’s Writing & Publishing program, the Science Communications residency will provide the opportunity for professional communicators and scientists to collaborate with top science communicators through workshops, debates, visits, talks, and one-on-one dialogues. Participants will return to their professional practice in science, media, or research transformed by ideas encountered in the residency and equipped with new skills in the practice of communicating science.

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High resolution downloadable image of Jay Ingram.

More information on Science Communications at The Banff Centre.