Kristina Abovyan from University of Missouri-Columbia, USA will present the paper "The Power Of Human Voices: Building Trust With Exemplar Sources In Investigative Narratives." Kristina's research looks at how investigative journalists identify and find exemplar sources, and then establish contact and build trust with these sources.Sarwar Kamal from BGC Trust University, Bangladesh will present the paper “How Political Interference Shapes Investigative Journalism in Mofussil Regions: Evidence from Bangladesh.” Sarwar conducted a survey of 74 journalists, in-depth interviews and content analysis of investigative reports. The results demonstrate that political interference in mofussil journalism is multi-layered and systemic, creating an environment in which investigative reporting is frequently dampened down or restricted. Ahmed Makharesh from University of Southern Mississippi, USA will present the paper "Arab's Involvement in Investigative Journalism: Assessing Participation and Willingness.” Based on a quantitative survey of 421 Arab citizens across four regions of the Arab world, Ahmed measured Arab citizens' understanding of citizen investigative reporting and their willingness to engage in the investigative reporting industry. Mervet Chaktmi from Tunisia will present the paper “Investigative Journalism In Tunisia: Practices in the Context of Challenges.” Mervet's study explores the relationship between political transformation and investigative journalism, including how journalists access and verify information, navigate legal and security risks, and respond to economic pressures.🪑All sessions are first-come, first-serve. That means people who arrive first will get seats. Be aware that some sessions are in relatively small rooms and they will fill up quickly.

Programming opens up powerful new possibilities for journalists, yet those without a tech or science background may find the prospect intimidating. In this hands-on workshop, we'll step out of our comfort zones together and master 10 essential R functions from the "dplyr" package library that will jumpstart participants' programming journeys. These carefully selected functions help perform common data operations – typically done in Excel spreadsheets – faster and more efficiently.

Need advice on an investigative project? Or insights to shape your investigative ideas? Come and chat for 15 minutes one-on-one with experienced investigative and data editors. Each attendee gets only one 15-minute slot.All information shared with the editors will remain strictly confidential and will not be appropriated, reproduced, disclosed, or claimed by the editors for their own purposes. This session is first come, first serve.

The Global Shining Light Award (GSLA) honors investigative journalism in developing or transitioning countries, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions. These winners came from among hundreds of submissions and their intrepid work exposed abuses across a wide range of topics. In this panel, the GSLA winners announced at GIJC25's gala dinner will explain how they pursued their award-winning investigations.

Flourish is one of the most popular visualization tools today. It offers easy-to-use and rich visualization methods, especially for newsrooms engaged in data journalism. In this session, attendees learn Flourish's data visualization library and how to make basic types of charts, projection maps, heat maps, and hierarchy maps. Case studies are also included. Those who want to practice during the panel can create an account here: https://app.flourish.studio/login. You can access the datasets in the presentation or you can download the datasets from this GitHub page: https://github.com/pinardag.

The ability to expose abuse and oppression through data-driven investigations is deeply meaningful — and it all starts with spreadsheets. This hands-on workshop reveals advanced Excel techniques for uncovering hidden information in your datasets. Master Excel's classic secrets and robust statistical functions that turn raw information into compelling evidence.

Need advice on pitching, an investigative story or your journalism career? Come and speak one-on-one with our experienced mentors, who will offer practical advice in a supportive environment. Each attendee will get a 15 minute slot with one mentor. All information shared with the editors will remain strictly confidential and will not be appropriated, reproduced, disclosed, or claimed by the mentors for their own purposes. This session is open to only women and nonbinary individuals, and it is first come, first served.

Join GIJC25 organizers — GIJN and Malaysiakini — and the newly announced GIJC27 co-hosts for an informal and lively farewell. Celebrate key highlights from the conference with us and get a preview of what's ahead for GIJC27.