Dataharvest 2025 - the European Investigative Journalism Conference

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).

*The keynote will take place in the Aula Z 1/13 (Auditorium Hanswijk, 1st floor) and will be streamed to Aula Donche (on the first floor).

As a cross-border community of investigative journalists interested in collaboration, how can we contribute to documenting and telling the story of conflicts with our work? With the wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza, journalists are both victims and witnesses of these conflicts. Israel’s war on Gaza has become the deadliest conflict ever for journalists, and journalists have been threatened, killed, and tortured while documenting Russia’s war on Ukraine.

This year, the Dataharvest keynote conversation is with Laurent Richard, founder and executive director of Forbidden Stories, whose mission is to support and/or continue the work of journalists who are killed, injured, threatened, or whose work is restricted in another way. Laurent will present and discuss Forbidden’s Stories’ work on the Gaza and Viktoriia projects.

Laurent will be joined in conversation by Ulla Sätereie, chairperson of the Swedish Association of Investigative Journalism. They'll discuss how the investigative journalism community can engage with the coverage of these wars, how to coordinate collaborative investigations from afar, and how to do so while keeping journalists safe. They will talk about the peculiarities of both projects and the reception they've had in France and beyond. After their conversation, there will be time for questions and discussion

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.

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.

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.

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.