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Friday, May 23
 

9:00am CEST

Check-in and Coffee
Friday May 23, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am CEST
Front hall and Media Cafe (large space in the lobby). Register for the conference, pick your name tag and get a coffee.
Friday May 23, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am CEST
Mediaforum

10:00am CEST

Opening of the conference
Friday May 23, 2025 10:00am - 10:30am CEST
The opening of the conference will take place in the Aula Hanswijk (Z1.13, on the first floor), and will be streamed into the Aula Donche (Z1.15, first floor).
Friday May 23, 2025 10:00am - 10:30am CEST
Z1.13 - Aula Hanswijk

10:30am CEST

Networking welcome
Friday May 23, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am CEST
Friday May 23, 2025 10:30am - 11:15am CEST
Mediaforum

11:15am CEST

Keynote speech
Friday May 23, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CEST
Coming soon!



*The opening will take place in the Aula Z 1/13 (Auditorium Hanswijk, 1st floor) and will be streamed to Aula Donche (on the first floor).
Friday May 23, 2025 11:15am - 11:30am CEST
Z1.13 - Aula Hanswijk

12:00pm CEST

Lunch
Friday May 23, 2025 12:00pm - 1:15pm CEST
Lunch is served in Mediacafe ground floor, lobby area), and on the first floor (Z1.06 and Z1.07). Vegan food and special meals (gluten free, diary free, all allergies and special dietary requirements) are available on the first floor only.


Friday May 23, 2025 12:00pm - 1:15pm CEST
Mediaforum

1:15pm CEST

Using AI to identify suspects, verify sources, and analyse locations: Latest AI-OSINT techniques
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing investigative journalism. Whether you're identifying perpetrators, verifying sources or fact-checking, AI-powered OSINT opens up new possibilities for journalism. Examples such as precise ChatGPT prompts for Overpass Turbo or AI-driven automated satellite image analysis demonstrate the immense potential of these technologies. We will look into techniques and tools AI can help us with, from leveraging the AI to analyse geographic data, reconstruct movement patterns and pinpoint locations, to using AI tools to create perpetrators' profiles, verify sources and analyse digital traces. This hands-on presentation will showcase how AI can be integrated into journalistic workflows to enhance efficiency and accuracy. Join us to explore the latest methods in data-driven investigations.
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z0.10

1:15pm CEST

Investigations coordinator - one title, multiple realities
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Cross-border collaborative investigations are now an established practice in journalism. As this field evolves, the role of investigation coordinators has become better defined, even moving towards professionalisation. With the proliferation of organisations and journalists working on cross-border investigations, various coordination models have emerged, each presenting unique challenges and opportunities.


Some organisations have staff coordinators, with a focus on coordinating team members, while they are supported in handling admin, logistics, and finance. In other cases, the coordinator is a freelancer, managing all aspects of work independently, or a newsroom staffer receiving limited assistance from their newsrooms. In this session, three experienced coordinators will discuss the different challenges and opportunities that come with their role.
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z3.05

1:15pm CEST

Farm subsidies: get the new data, find stories about the biggest EU money pot
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
The EU hands out over a third of its budget to the agricultural sector every year. Under EU law data on subsidies are publicly available via the individual member states. However, the information is often difficult to access, analyze and compare across borders. The Farmsubsidy.org website contains fresh and searchable data on farm subsidies, obtained from national government agencies. In this session, you will learn:
- what's in the farm subsidy data ,- how to look through millions of recipients of farm subsidies; - crossmatch with other data to find story leads; - how to classify types of recipients (person/company/etc.) using machine learning models.


Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z1.16

1:15pm CEST

Dataviz: make sure users understand your charts
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
An interactive session designed to demonstrate what readers (including you) see in charts and infographics, and what you might need to do to make your message clearer
Moderators
avatar for Jonathan Stoneman

Jonathan Stoneman

Arena for Journalism in Europe
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z3.09

1:15pm CEST

Beyond the pixels: the power of raster data in QGIS
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Manipulating and analyzing raster data can be intimidating, as it often appears more complex than vector data. However, raster data—such as satellite imagery or forest loss information—is essential for environmental and geographic storytelling. For example others, it enables journalists to assess vegetation health, visualize floods or droughts, and calculate deforested areas, even when true-colour satellite imagery is obscured by clouds.

In this hands-on session, participants will learn the key functions in QGIS needed to work with raster data. This includes loading raster layers, managing projections, setting band combinations (such as false color) for analysis, styling raster layers to enhance visibility, and performing raster calculations.

To attend this session, participants should have basic QGIS skills.

Before the session, please install QGIS on your laptops and make sure it is working properly. Download from: https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html

If you encounter any issues during installation, this guide may help: https://www.qgis.org/resources/installation-guide/
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z2.08

1:15pm CEST

Mapping independence: why and how newsrooms should host and style their own maps
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Tired of Google Maps' branding and tracking? In this session, we’ll explore how newsrooms can host their own map tiles using open-source tools such as Protomaps and OpenFreeMap. We’ll look at how to reduce costs, protect reader privacy, and gain full editorial control — alongside a hands-on workshop on customizing map styles with Maputnik. No prior knowledge is required for the workshop, though some experience working with maps will be a bonus, especially for the self-hosting part. The workshop takes place entirely in a browser. After this session, attendees will be familiar with alternatives to commercial map providers and know the foundations of map styling and self-hosting, empowering them to create maps that better serve their reporting and storytelling.
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z2.09

1:15pm CEST

🤖 How LLMs can classify thousands of records in minutes
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
You find yourself staring at a dataset with tens or hundreds of thousands of rows. Maybe you want to get up-to-date FOIA contact details for all government departments in your country, or to find out which political donors have links to the fossil fuels industry. What do you do?

Large Language Models (LLMs) can help journalists automate simple research and classification tasks that would take an unreasonably long time to do manually.

In this session, we'll outline how Global Witness has used LLMs, search engines and web scraping to help us identify fossil fuel lobbyists at COP29. These techniques can be applied to other investigations and research tasks.

The workshop will cover:

- An interactive classification demo
- Some basic tips on setting up a research/classification project
- The challenges of doing AI research at scale and how to address them
- Using more advanced tools

After attending this session, you will be able to take an existing dataset and automatically augment it with new data, opening up the potential for new stories and investigations.

If you want to follow along with the classification demo, you'll need to be able to run Jupyter Notebooks on your device or have a Google account. A basic understanding of Python would be useful, but we won't be writing any new code.
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z2.10

1:15pm CEST

Media start-ups - how the bumble-bees fly
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
All over Europe, small, independent media outlets are emerging, countering the decline in traditional media and the rise of misinformation. But they are still outnumbered and face significant challenges to their survival.
For the first time, facts about this new sector have been collected: a survey of 174 newsrooms from 31 European countries has pulled together knowledge about these small, often non-profit newsrooms. The survey, conducted by Netzwerk Recherche, shows fiery souls, great enthusiasm and professionalism, but also big challenges in funding and sustainability. What is the situation? Are some business models more suitable than others? What should be done to support the sector – and where could support come from?
Moderators
avatar for Brigitte Alfter

Brigitte Alfter

Director, Arena for Journalism in Europe
Brigitte Alfter ist eine deutsch-dänische Journalistin, Geschäftsführerin für Redaktionelles bei Arena for Journalism in Europe und Dozentin Journalismus an der Universität Göteborg. Nach Jahren als Journalistin auf fallen Niveaus vom Lokaljournalismus bis zur EU-Korrespondentin... Read More →
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z2.02

1:15pm CEST

Deregulation and a "Clean Industrial Deal" – how to cover the new pro-corporate EU agenda
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
The new European Commission's focus for the next five years will be on boosting industry's "competitiveness". This entails a radical deregulation agenda for rules that industry perceives as burdensome. Von der Leyen's deregulation agenda was heavily inspired by corporate lobbying campaigns. Last year, the chemical industry led on the Antwerp Declaration, a wish list of industry to slash regulations. This is now followed by the 'Clean Industrial Deal' which is pushing fossil gas for hydrogen, and ignores the other planetary crisis: pollution and biodiversity decline. CEO has compiled an initial list of more than 15 different tools for systemic deregulation. These create more hurdles for new progressive EU regulation, and create escape routes allowing companies to avoid regulation, as well as new hurdles for national level regulation. A good example are the Omnibus proposals, the first of which diluted sustainability reporting rules that had only recently been agreed. We'll share our insights on these new developments in the deregulation agenda, assess what's at stake, and how to build stories around them, at the European level and in your country.
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z3.04

1:15pm CEST

Investigating far-right networks: uncovering extremist groups and international campaigns to curtail women’s rights
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
I'M WAITING FOR THE SPEAKERS TO CONFIRM THE TITLE AND DESCRIPTION Far-right and other extremist networks in Europe organise themselves and coordinate their activities across borders by using different technological and strategic means, and pursuing different social and political goals. In this session, two (or three, or four) journalists will explain the diverse methodologies they employed to investigate how powerful hardliner networks operate in Europe.

Brecht Castel will describe how he and his colleagues used OSINT techniques to uncover how Active Clubs -- which mix fitness and martial arts with far-right ideology -- recruit and radicalise their members online. And Gabriela Keller will explain how she and her colleagues investigated how the international religious right has built cross-border alliances with civil society and political actors, with the aim of influencing policy and restrict women's reproductive rights.

By attending this session, you will learn different approaches to think of and plan a collaborative investigation into the activities of extremist networks.
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z1.13 - Aula Hanswijk

1:15pm CEST

Working with whistleblowers
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Whistleblowers can be vital sources for journalists, and their information has initiated some of the biggest investigations. But whistleblowers are running big risks – from personal safety to legal threats. What do you do as a journalist if you are approached by a whistleblower? How do you get and verify the information you need while still keeping your source secret and safe? And what protection exists for these people who shed light on conditions that were meant to be kept hidden? Join this conversation between a journalist with long experience of working with whistleblowers and secret sources and a specialist in the protection and legislation around whistleblowing.
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z1.14

1:15pm CEST

Pathways to collaboration with scientists: networking roundtable about cross-disciplinary collaboration
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
In recent years, cross-border investigative projects have increasingly seen scientists and scholars not just as interviewees but as active collaborators throughout the investigative process. Such collaborations, while powerful, require careful design from the start. For example, scientists and journalists often have diverging agendas, timelines, and constraints. There is an inherent imbalance between scientific expertise and the ability of journalists to critically evaluate the validity of a specific scientific approach, leaving journalists reliant on scientists' judgment and at risk of losing control over the direction of the investigation. To address these and other challenges there is a need for structured guidelines, recommendations, and potentially a code of conduct to ensure independence, equity, and effective use of resources. In this networking session, the participants will discuss what those guidelines might look like and co-create a practical blueprint for fostering respectful and productive collaborations between journalists and scholars. The session's outcome will be a co-created roadmap of suggestions, insights, and practical recommendations.
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 1:15pm - 2:30pm CEST
Z2.01 - Mediadrôme

2:30pm CEST

Coffee break
Friday May 23, 2025 2:30pm - 3:00pm CEST
Coffee served in the Mediacafe (ground floor, lobby area) and on the third floor.
Friday May 23, 2025 2:30pm - 3:00pm CEST
Mediaforum

3:00pm CEST

How to track AI extractivism practices through data annotators
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Large language models and other AI systems sometimes only work because there are thousands of people labeling and classifying information that is then used in training the models. Journalistic investigations are discovering rights violations and misdemeanors by large outsourcing companies, who offer jobs below the minimum wage. In some cases, workers are forced to go through datasets of disturbing data that can affect their mental health. However, tracing this labour chain is not easy. Big Tech companies often turn to underdeveloped countries where they can take advantage of economic conditions and labour needs to employ this activity; scammers take advantage of this under-supervised process. How can you track this outsourcing chain when you are sitting at your desk somewhere in Europe? Journalists who attend this session will learn how to investigate large tech companies and follow the traces of their activities, as well as uncovering labour and human rights violations along the AI supply chain. They will also learn how to contact the right sources and approach workers who are in sensitive situations.
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z1.15 - Aula Donche

3:00pm CEST

How to track supply chains and money flows in Europe that contribute to environmental destruction in the Global South
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
The choices made by consumers, corporations, and financiers in the Global North ripple across borders, often shaping the lives and environments of communities in the Global South. From sourcing raw materials to funding large-scale projects, some decisions result in exploitative practices, environmental degradation, and corruption in vulnerable regions. Journalism can play a critical role in unveiling these hidden connections by tracing supply chains and financial flows. The data and research team from the Pulitzer Center will share the techniques, data and tools they used to help journalists uncover the supply chains and financial enablers behind commodities and projects that contributed to environmental degradation and human rights abuse in the Global South. This session will dive into the reporting methodologies behind environmental investigations on rainforest and ocean issues that the team has conducted. The team will provide participants with an investigative framework and introduce them to both the open and private databases and tools used for such investigation. The purpose of this session is to allow participants to replicate the methodologies for their own investigations and to have practical guidelines to kickstart such investigations.
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z0.10

3:00pm CEST

Find the Eurostat data you want - using an API
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Getting European data from EUROSTAT, the statistical office of the European Union, can be tricky, clicking through ever-increasing menus and confusing download buttons - but there is an easier way. Instead of manually downloading spreadsheets, we will learn how to use the API provided by Eurostat. Once you know how this works you will be able to adapt your knowledge to query data from other organizations including the OECD and the World Bank. We'll also learn how generative AI can help simplify querying data in this format by ensuring we use the correct syntax.Bring your own laptop: we will be using some Python: you will need a gmail account in order to access a copy of the script for the session. No other software is required.
Moderators
avatar for Jonathan Stoneman

Jonathan Stoneman

Arena for Journalism in Europe
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z3.04

3:00pm CEST

AI in code editors: save time when writing code
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
In this session we will explore AI assisted code editors, and go over the obscure but necessary features that enable you to write web scrapers easily. We'll walk through examples of how to approach unfamiliar pages and web technologies, and how it's already being used to speed up development substantially.

To get the most out of this session, you should have basic knowledge of web scraping in Python.
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z2.08

3:00pm CEST

Browser puppetry: Playwright for dynamic website scraping
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Playwright is a next-generation browser automation tool that allows you to use Python or JavaScript to scrape almost any web page. It can assist in downloading pages of government documents, capturing tweets before they get deleted, or simply breaking past the cookie consent banner. Beyond the basics, it can also easily take screenshots, monitor and log network requests, and even fit right into your traditional BeautifulSoup scraping approach.

We'll look at:

- Installing Playwright
- Accessing elements on the page
- Interacting with web pages (clicking, navigating, filling out forms)
- Taking screenshots
- Sending pages to traditional scraping tools like BeautifulSoup
- Common patterns including pagination and CAPTCHA breaking

For those of you familiar with tackling similar problems using Selenium: Playwright is a similar tool with a better interface, better install/upgrade process, and ten times the usability. It might be time to upgrade!

Participants should have a basic knowledge of Python and HTML, but we'll also cover how to breeze past those basics with AI assistance. To fully participate, participants should have Jupyter installed. Additional software and installation tips will be available at https://github.com/jsoma/dataharvest25-playwright-scraping
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z2.09

3:00pm CEST

Cracking the code: how to use RegEx in your investigations
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
When you unlock the power of regular expressions (RegEx) you supercharge your spreadsheet!

Participants will learn how to extract hidden patterns from text, clean messy datasets, and automate repetitive tasks using the RegEx formulas within Google Sheets (but this session is also a good intro if you want to apply it in other code).

Through practical examples—like extracting donations, cleaning salutation-heavy lists, and extracting postcodes—you will leave with the confidence to apply RegEx in your day-to-day data work.

Attendees will receive a RegEx cheat sheet (customisable for their own use) and a practical demo spreadsheet to take their skills to the next level. No prior experience of RegEx is required, but you should be comfortable writing formulas in Google Sheets/Excel. I will be sharing a Google Sheet containing the data for which you will require a Google account.
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z2.10

3:00pm CEST

Public interest journalism – where does Europe go?
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Independent newsrooms are sprouting up all over Europe. Countering the decline in traditional media and the rise of misinformation, they are still outnumbered and face significant challenges to their survival. The Journalism Value Project (JVP) aims to advance knowledge of and debate around Europe’s independent media. As part of advancing the debate, the JVP partners have consulted with stakeholders from multiple sectors to better understand how they view, value and support journalism now and in the future and how public interest journalism is bringing social, cultural, democratic, and financial value to their community and society at large.
The Journalism Value Project (JVP) has put the spotlight on the societal value of independent journalism and the challenges it faces. The project includes a whitepaper about the needs of the future: Is there a place for these media? Are they a priority for funders, or for politicians at national and EU level? Must the newsroom find their own ways to become sustainable?
Moderators
avatar for Brigitte Alfter

Brigitte Alfter

Director, Arena for Journalism in Europe
Brigitte Alfter ist eine deutsch-dänische Journalistin, Geschäftsführerin für Redaktionelles bei Arena for Journalism in Europe und Dozentin Journalismus an der Universität Göteborg. Nach Jahren als Journalistin auf fallen Niveaus vom Lokaljournalismus bis zur EU-Korrespondentin... Read More →
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z2.02

3:00pm CEST

Taking OSINT to the archive: using data, OSINT and (a little bit of) AI for historical investigative journalism
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
In a world where history may sometimes seem busy repeating itself, the ability to find your way around traditional paper archives is increasingly useful. Whether it’s war, genocide, the Cold War or the environment: historical stories are becoming more and more – well – current.

In this session we’ll show you how to transfer data and OSINT skills to working with paper and historical records. We will explain how to find stories in the material and how to find both historical and current sources. We’ll show you some – hopefully – inspiring examples, and we’ll discuss why it’s not smart to accidentally download 500,000 records from the National Archives.

No previous knowledge and no additional materials (e.g. laptop) are required for this session.
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z3.09

3:00pm CEST

How do you investigate an oligarch? Take a trip with us through an offshore maze
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
We all know that oligarchs, gangsters and shady politicians use shell companies and trusts in offshore jurisdictions to hide their ill-gotten gains. Just because they hide their cash doesn't mean we can't find their companies! This session will show you the tools available to help you crack open those nests of shell companies.
Come join us on this wild ride through an offshore maze
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z1.13 - Aula Hanswijk

3:00pm CEST

Keep calm and coordinate: Networking Roundtable about coordinating collaborative investigations
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Cross-border collaborative investigations are now an established practice in journalism, and the role of coordinator is gaining a clearer definition. Yes, many questions about the coordinator's role and work remain open, as each investigation is different and presents different challenges. While some organisations specialise in hosting and coordinating collaborative projects, there are also many cross-border investigations coordinated by individual journalists in an ad-hoc manner. In this session we'd like to consider the possibility of developing a cross-border editorial framework and mindset that would help us decide which topics to investigate from the beginning of a collaboration. We will look at ideas on how to best manage diverse, cross-border teams who have varying cultural and journalistic backgrounds; how to work remotely across different time zones with freelancers and staffers, newcomers and veterans, data journalists and writers. When it comes to publishing partners, how do you navigate the varying requirements of legacy media and independent newsrooms? Whether you have experience coordinating cross-border investigations or you'd like to get some experience in the field - join the discussion!
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z2.01 - Mediadrôme

3:00pm CEST

Up your digital security and anti-surveillance game
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Digital hygiene, security awareness and understanding how and where data (including personal data) is exposed is more important than ever. We face the proliferation of spyware, the widespread use of LLMs (AI) and intrusive surveillance practices which are 'on steroids' with advances in computing power.

In this session we will give you the tools and knowledge you need to up your digital security and anti-surveillance game.

We will start the session by checking your own current digital security in a fun and interactive way. We will look at what your answers tell us and share practical tips to improve your security game and better secure your computer(s), encrypt confidential information or communicate securely with your team.
The second part of the session will dive deeper into big tech and state surveillance. Targeted and mass surveillance practices will be deconstructed and we will share useful tools and practices to counter surveillance.

After this session you will have a better security profile and will be able to do your investigative work more securely. You will also receive a tip sheet in order to go on implementing the measures at your own pace.
Moderators
avatar for Deborah Meibergen

Deborah Meibergen

IT Coordinator and security awareness trainer Collaborative Desk, Arena for Journalism in Europe
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z1.16

3:00pm CEST

From page to stage: bringing journalism to life
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Live journalism is emerging as a powerful global trend, reconnecting audiences with journalism in an engaging, interactive way.

In this session, participants will explore how journalism can transcend traditional formats and captivate live audiences. After an introduction to the genre — its evolution, impact, and the key players worldwide — we’ll dive into Headliner’s unique approach in Germany, showcasing Reporter Slam (a fast-paced, entertaining format) and JIVE (a magazine on stage), alongside inspiring international examples.

Then, we’ll break down the core principles of live journalism, analysing curated clips from live shows to identify what makes them work. Participants are encouraged to bring a story (printed or digital) that they believe could be adapted for the stage. Through hands-on guidance, they will learn to:
✔ Select the appropriate format and tone
✔ Identify visual and auditory elements to enhance storytelling
✔ Structure a compelling narrative arc for a live audience

No prior experience required!

By the end of this session, participants will have a good grasp of different live journalistic formats and first practical tools to start re-imagining their own stories for the stage.
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:15pm CEST
Z3.05

3:00pm CEST

EU transparency and the right to information: discussion with the EU ombudswoman
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:45pm CEST
The European Ombudsman investigates cases of maladministration within EU institutions, acting on their own initiative or in response to complaints from EU citizens - often journalists. In this session, the new European Ombudswoman, Teresa Anjinho will share her position on transparency issues, and will discuss, with three experienced journalists working on EU-related topics, a wide range of pressing issues. How will journalists’ concerns related to the treatment of the freedom of information requests be addressed? What are possible solutions to the loopholes in the current EU Transparency register? How can the transparency of EU spending be improved, including oversight over RRF money and the proposed Defense fund? Come to the session and join the discussion!
Friday May 23, 2025 3:00pm - 4:45pm CEST
Z1.14

4:15pm CEST

Coffee break
Friday May 23, 2025 4:15pm - 4:45pm CEST
Coffee served in the Mediacafe (ground floor, lobby area) and on the third floor.
Friday May 23, 2025 4:15pm - 4:45pm CEST
Mediaforum

4:45pm CEST

Risk and rewards: how to hunt for sanctions evasion in customs data
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Customs records and open-source databases are a goldmine, but they can also be overwhelming. With so much data, where do you begin looking for stories? How can you be sure that what you're seeing is what you think it is? And how should you organise your findings once you have a good lead?

At a time when international sanctions affect everything from oil to aircraft parts, this presentation offers insights into investigating sanctioned goods, sharing information on the databases and tools and techniques useful for finding original supply chain stories. We will be drawing on our experience of tracking shipments of aircraft parts from western facilities to Russia via India (see: https://www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/boeing-airbus-russia-sanctions-aircraft-parts-india-intermediaries). We will explain how we trawled through thousands of transactions to find what we were looking for – and how we turned rows of data into actual stories.
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z1.15 - Aula Donche

4:45pm CEST

Find your way through the data maze of European "illegal" border crossings
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
The frequency of migrant crossings, and dangers faced by thousands of people continues to attract headlines across Europe. Here we take a deep dive into UNHCR and Frontex figures, plus data from the UK's Home Office.We will discuss the sources themselves, what they show, how they differ, their publishing schedules and their limitations. We will look at how to access the data, to visualise them, and to find other data with which to enhance these primary sources, not to mentions the stories these will yield!
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z3.04

4:45pm CEST

The power of bad data: How a team in Northern Macedonia learned to understand its role in information disorder
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Today, bad data holds the power to distort reality, spread misinformation, and manipulate public opinion. This session dives deep into how inaccurate, incomplete, and even deliberately manipulated data fuels the growth of information disorder. Participants will learn how to spot and verify flawed data, understand its far-reaching impact on trust in the media, and explore practical strategies to combat its spread.
Moderators
avatar for Jonathan Stoneman

Jonathan Stoneman

Arena for Journalism in Europe
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z3.09

4:45pm CEST

World of pain: how to understand Big Pharma - and find data in an information desert
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
The opioid crisis and the role of Purdue Pharma might seem like a US-based story. But there is much profit being made from pain in Europe, and new addicts are being created in the process. Paper Trail Media, in collaboration with The Examination, uncovered the opioid business on this side of the Atlantic, leading to a documentary aired by ZDF in Germany, and a front page story in the Washington Post. Find out how they did it – and how the story is still being uncovered in an area where data is sparse.
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z1.13 - Aula Hanswijk

4:45pm CEST

Data Magic made simple: three ways to crunch numbers in spreadsheets
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
We know that thousands of lines in a dataset can be intimidating, especially if you’re not a programmer. Spreadsheets can do the heavy lifting — and mastering them is easier than you expect!

In this session, we will walk you through three different ways to dive into data using nothing but spreadsheet tools. Along the way, we’ll show you how to cross-check your calculations, ensuring your findings are accurate and reliable. Whether you’re a complete beginner or have already used spreadsheets in your work, you’ll leave with practical skills to handle data confidently without ever touching a line of code. Bring your laptop and join us to discover how easy and powerful data analysis can be!
Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z2.08

4:45pm CEST

Finding connections: transform your document collections into a graph visualisation
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
A high level overview of the GraphRAG ecosystem. We aim to show:
- What GraphRAG is, and how it works
- How to prepare your documents
- How to build your own graph.
- How to interface with your graph using Python

These techniques can be used to gain a visual overview of the contents of document sets, and to find information in the documents without having to rely on keywords. Put simply, it enables you to make sense of large amounts of documents without having to read them all.

In the session you'll be making a graph from arbitrary documents, visualizing it, and using it to answer questions.

It will help if you've heard of RAG before, but this is not a prerequisite. To follow along, all you need is a browser and an e-mail address.
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z2.09

4:45pm CEST

Investigating built expansion on protected natural areas 🌳: learn the basics of PostGIS
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Working with geospatial datasets is often critical to investigations dealing with where things are located, where an event occurred, land ownership, and the environment.

In this workshop, participants will learn the basics of using PostGIS to query and join geospatial datasets using the Arena+ "Europe in Grey" investigation as a case study.

We’ll run through a brief overview of PostGIS, the spatial data types, indexes, and functions it adds to Postgres, and a few of its strengths and weaknesses as a tool.

Participants will connect to an existing database containing a dataset of built expansion in Europe and a few datasets used in the Arena investigation. They’ll be guided through writing queries to reproduce some of the investigation’s results, answering questions like:
Which European country has lost the greatest proportion of its wild areas since 2018?
Which protected areas have had the most building on them?

To take part in this workshop, participants should feel comfortable writing basic SQL queries.
Participants should bring their laptops with either DBeaver or their favorite SQL client tool installed.
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z2.10

4:45pm CEST

Protecting your newsroom against legal threats
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
One of the biggest threats to a small newsroom is being faced with legal claims or lawsuits that will block publication, soak up all your energy and potentially empty your bank account. Claims may allege violations of privacy, defamation, or breach of confidentiality. In recent years attention has focused on SLAPPs (Strategic Legal Action against Public Participation) that aim to stop you in your tracks, prevent lawful investigations and halt discussion of matters of public interest.
How can you prevent this tactic and be prepared if it's used against you? Where can you go for support and help? Senior legal advisor Flutura Kusari from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, who has advised media and journalists pre- and post- publication, gives her advice and takes your questions.
Moderators Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z1.16

4:45pm CEST

How to use privacy rules as an investigative tool
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Privacy rights under GDPR are often seen as an obstacle to investigative journalism. In this session we focus on the great opportunity to access information which GDPR gives us.
While national laws on the right to access information are for everyone, GDPR is about individual control over information. When you learn to make use of this regulation, you can access information from big tech companies, from consumer clubs, and even religious sects.
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z1.14

4:45pm CEST

The vertical perspective: best practices for using satellite data in journalism
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Satellite data has become a powerful resource in investigative journalism—but using it effectively comes with technical, ethical, and practical challenges. This session draws on several recent investigations to highlight how journalists are incorporating satellite imagery and geospatial data into their reporting.

We’ll explore how radar-based analysis was used to document destruction in Ukrainian cities, and how satellite-derived location data revealed movement patterns of German intelligence service employees. These examples show not just what’s possible, but also what can go wrong—and how journalists adapted when it did. From sourcing the data to picking the right tools and interpreting results responsibly, the session offers real-world insights into the craft of satellite-aided investigations.

No technical background is required. This isn’t a hands-on workshop, but a behind-the-scenes look at how satellite data fits into newsroom workflows.
Moderators Speakers
Friday May 23, 2025 4:45pm - 6:00pm CEST
Z0.10

6:30pm CEST

OSINT Challenge kick-off
Friday May 23, 2025 6:30pm - 8:00pm CEST
Back by popular demand (yes, really!) The OSINT treasure hunt gives Dataharvesters a chance to have some fun, test their OSINT skills and lateral thinking, and get some fresh air on the streets of Mechelen. Either come as a team (3 is a good number) or find other team members at the beginning of the session.


Speakers
avatar for Jonathan Stoneman

Jonathan Stoneman

Arena for Journalism in Europe
Friday May 23, 2025 6:30pm - 8:00pm CEST
Z1.13 - Aula Hanswijk

6:30pm CEST

Live journalism: Investigative Journalism on stage
Friday May 23, 2025 6:30pm - 8:00pm CEST
Telling stories live to those around us, using our voices, is probably the oldest storytelling format of all. Live Journalism, on the other hand, is a more recent but fast-growing phenomenon, with new groups emerging in different countries every year.

While there's no single definition of Live Journalism, most often, it involves journalists and other storytellers performing on a stage in front of a live audience.
This year, Dataharvest will present a Live Journalism show, produced by Christine Liehr, co-founder and managing director of Headliner, where we'll experiment with ways of bringing to life journalistic investigations done by the Dataharvest community.

Stay tuned for more details on this show – and how you can be part of it!

Speakers
avatar for Jose Miguel Calatayud

Jose Miguel Calatayud

Freelance journalist and writer
I am a freelance journalist and writer based in Berlin, focusing on feature writing and investigative journalism, mainly about Europe. As of March 2025, I’m working on The Guide to Corporate Influence in Europe, a series of articles on how big companies act very strategically t... Read More →
Friday May 23, 2025 6:30pm - 8:00pm CEST
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