Fireside conversation between Prof Devi Sridhar and Mia Malan exploring how scientific evidence is translated into public understanding and collective action in global health.
Drawing on Prof Devi Sridhar’s experience as a prominent public voice in print, broadcast, and digital media, and Mia Malan's expertise as editor-in chief of Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, it examines how experts communicate risk, uncertainty, and urgency across rapidly changing public health contexts. The fireside conversation will consider both the opportunities and challenges of science communication, asking how global health expertise can inform public debate while maintaining trust, clarity, and scientific integrity.
About the speakers:
Devi Sridhar is a writer, broadcaster and world-leading expert in public health and wellbeing. She is Professor and Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh and has advised the WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO and the Scottish, UK and German governments. Devi appears regularly on ITV and Channel 4 News, has a weekly column in the Guardian, tweets to over 300,000 followers, and recently became a certified Level 3 Personal Trainer. Her first book, Preventable, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and a Sunday Times bestseller. She has also authored the newly released How Not to Die (Too Soon)'
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism in South Africa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC and is a 2025/6 senior fellow in global health communication leadership at the University of Southern California.