The Science Media Centre of Canada is most likely the next branch of the SMC network to open for business, as this backgrounder in Canadian publication University Affairs indicates.
I met the Canadian team behind the Canadian SMC venture, including veteran Canadian science reporter Peter Calamai, at the World Conference of Science Journalists in London in June and was impressed at their determination and enthusiasm to go operational on what will be a challenging project – the Canadian SMC will generate material in Engish and French and cover a vast stretch of territory – much like the Australian SMC.
Here’s a quote from the article about what the Canadian SMC is planning:
“The steering committee envisions a mostly virtual and completely bilingual centre that will help reporters find experts and get briefings on topical concerns in health, technology, the environment, medicine, engineering and the physical, life and social sciences. The centre would also help researchers better understand what motivates reporters, would highlight Canadian research and would provide a central registry of scientific meetings that journalists could cover ‘in their own backyards.’ These were among the suggestions made by stakeholders in a feasibility study last year.”
Here’s a report on the Canadian SMC from the MIT-based Knight Science Journalism Tracker.
Other SMCs are also likely to open their doors in the next couple of years, potentially in Denmark, Japan and South Africa. The flow of information between the SMCs will make it a truly global resource for journalists and scientists. Exciting times, we wish the Canadians all the very best in working towards getting the Canadian SMC up and running.