More than 450 journalists and writers from around the globe met in Melbourne, Australia, from 16 April to 20 April 2007 for the 5th World Conference of Science Journalists. UNESCO was sponsoring a workshop on education and training.

The UNESCO workshop was hold on the first day of the Conference to discuss the training, mentoring and support needs of science journalists in developing countries. It reviewed the initial results of a UNESCO project to develop a generic science journalism course and share the experiences of teachers around the world. UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, in his message to the Conference stressed the challenges of science reporting and the importance of improving the standards of science writing and science communication education. One of the central issues of today's world, he said, is the creation, sharing, acquisition and use of knowledge and, more specifically, of scientific knowledge.