August 26, 2024 - The World Organization for Public Scientific Literacy (WOPSL) Preparatory Committee 2024 Meeting was held at the China Hall of Science and Technology in a hybrid format, combining online and offline participation. Attendees included members of the WOPSL Preparatory Committee, representatives from member organizations, observer organization representatives, secretariat members, and staff from CAST’s Department of Popular Science.
The meeting was chaired by Wu Xiangping, Standing Committee Member of CAST, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and research fellow at the National Astronomical Observatories of CAS.
During the meeting, Wang Ting, Secretary-General of the WOPSL Preparatory Committee Secretariat, Party Secretary and Director of the China Research Institute for Science Popularization (CRISP), delivered a report on the activities of the secretariat. Participants discussed key priorities for the WOPSL Preparatory Committee in 2024, preparations for the 2024 World Conference on Science Literacy, the development of an international training program for science communication capacity building, and redesign of the Newsletter of World Organization for Science Literacy. Consensus was reached on these topics.
Foreign members of the Preparatory Committee, including Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro, former President of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI); Ehud Menipaz, Chairman of the Board of the Israeli Association of Engineers, Architects and Graduates in Technological Sciences; Hugo Alanívar Rojas, Executive Director of the National Museum of Natural History of Bolivia; Ganigar Chen, Deputy Director of the National Science and Technology Museum of Thailand; and Marco Antonio Cavero, President of the Andean Road Countries for Science and Technology, praised the WOPSL Preparatory Committee’s work in 2023. They provided recommendations on the design of sub-forums for the 2024 World Conference on Science Literacy, the content of international training programs for science communication capacity building, and other related initiatives.
The committee members expressed their support for the United Nations resolution on the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024-2031). They hoped to enhance cooperation in areas such as youth science experiment training, resource sharing among science museums, cross-border exchanges for science communicators, green technology popularization, and the design of exhibitions and exhibits in science museums.
Since the last preparatory committee meeting in September 2023, the WOPSL Preparatory Committee has successfully admitted 11 new member organizations. Currently, the committee includes 45 member and observer organizations, covering 27 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and South America.