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Clive Cookson has worked in science journalism for the whole of his professional life. He left Oxford University in 1974 with a First-Class Honors degree in chemistry. He joined the Times in 1981 as technology correspondent. In 1983, he moved to BBC Radio as science and medical correspondent. He joined his present newspaper, the Financial Times, as technology editor. He has also written about the chemical and pharmaceutical industries for the FT – and since 1991 he has been the FT’s science editor. He is an honorary member of the British Science Association and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Clive Cookson has received the EuroScience Recognition of Lifetime Achievements for European Science and Society 2020 during the ESOF2020 conference in Trieste, Italy. As a journalist, but also as a panelist or a committee member, he has participated in all ESOF editions since the first one, in 2004. During this interview, he talks about his experience with the new hybrid conference format, and the motivations that convinced him to travel to Trieste and participate in person during these COVID-19 times. You can watch and listen to the interview in the following video.

This interview is part of a Special Issue about ESOF 2020 – held in Trieste, Italy from 2 to 6 September 2020.

Interview and video by Federica Bressan