Science journalism guides and seminars as catalysts for collaboration, professionalisation and ethical reporting: Case study from the Balkans

Wednesday, 14 Oktober | 4.30–6.00 pm | Herrenhausen Palace

  • Altin Raxhimi, Journalist, Albania
  • Renata Dacinger, Presenter and editor of science show Ugriznimo znanost at RTV Slovenija
  • Bojan Stojkovski, Freelance journalist, Macedonia
  • Goran Lefkov, President of the Center for Investigative Journalism SCOOP, Macedonia
  • Mićo Tatalović, Journalist, Croatia [Co-Moderator]
  • Dr Gülsen Saray, Journalist, Turkey [Co-Moderator]

This session brings together authors of the practical guides produced recently by the Balkan Science Journalism Network, and organisers of regional science journalism seminars to promote cross-border learning and networking.

The 4- year initiative was supported by EFSJ, and funded by EurekAlert!, and is in its final year.

The session will share this project’s results and learning with the rest of the European science writing community.

The aim is to highlight how a shared framework— when translated, localized, and critically discussed—can strengthen science journalism across a diverse region. The Balkan countries face overlapping but distinct challenges: political pressures, misinformation, underfunded newsrooms, and the need to communicate science in multilingual, multicultural environments. By comparing experiences, we can show how a structured guide becomes not just a tool, but a catalyst for collaboration, professionalization, and ethical reporting.

Each author adapted the guide to the needs, constraints, and cultural contexts of their own country, written in their own national‑language versions—ranging from media freedom challenges to gaps in science literacy, limited access to experts, and region‐specific scientific issues such as environmental risks, public health communication, and technology policy. The session will hear from journalists and examples from Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia, Slovenia, and Turkey.

Altin Raxhimi

Altin Raxhimi is a journalist from Albania. In a career spanning three decades, he has reported for print, digital media and television on topics ranging from war to food to academia. Raxhimi holds a degree in journalism from the University of Tirana. He was Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

Renata Dacinger

Renata Dacinger is Presenter and editor of science show Ugriznimo znanost at RTV Slovenija.

Bojan Stojkovski

Bojan Stojkovski is a freelance journalist who has been covering foreign policy and EU affairs for more than a decade. Based in Skopje, Macedonia, he reports on technology, science, and environmental issues, as well as human rights and post-war societies in the western Balkan countries.

Goran Lefkov

Goran Lefkov has been an investigative journalist for almost 20 years. He has been part of the Center for Investigative Journalism SCOOP Macedonia since 2013. After 10 years of experience as a journalist in this organization, he became its president in 2023. He has behind him more than 100 short documentary films for the fight against corruption. He participates in many initiatives and as an activist for human rights and media freedom.

Mićo Tatalović [Moderator]

Mićo Tatalović is a science journalist and academic from Rijeka, Croatia, who lives and works in London, UK. He studied biological sciences at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, and then science communication at Imperial College London, where he researched the role of comic books in communicating science. He has also completed the Knight Science Journalism fellowship at MIT, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, researching the use of artificial intelligence in science writing. His work experience includes news editing for SciDev.Net, New Scientist, Nature and Research Professional News.

Gülsen Saray [Moderator]

Gülsen Saray (Ph.D.) is an expert in Science Journalism with an engineering background; a member of WFSJ, EFSJ, BNSJ, TJA, and AAAS. She is a columnist and an active science journalist writing for the Turkish newspaper called “24SAAT Gazetesi”, an official news organ of the Ankara Journalists Association. She speaks Turkish, English and German at an academic level, and is also proficient in French and Ottoman Turkish. She is the first Turkish female civil-structural engineer “B.Eng.” (Diplom Bauingenieurin), graduated from the Civil Engineering Department of Cologne University of Applied Sciences (TH/FH Köln) in Germany, where she worked as the first Turkish female tutor and lab-research assistant. Later she completed “B.Eng.” equivalent civil engineering courses (Weiterbildungstudium) at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany. After years of engineering experience, she has shifted to social sciences and acquired an “MA” Master’s Degree from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the ATILIM University in Ankara-Türkiye. Realizing the importance of science communication, she did her “Ph.D.” degree at Gazi University, Ankara-Türkiye, Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism. She wrote the first PhD Thesis on Science Journalism in Türkiye, covering nuclear energy, and conducted pioneering academic research in the field. She is the Author of Science Journalism in Turkey and Communicating Science to the Public (Türkiye’de Bilim Gazeteciliği ve Halka Doğru Bilim İletişimi).