LGBTQ+ rights investigations require specialized approaches to access vulnerable communities and sensitive information while maintaining trust and safety. This workshop provides essential techniques for reporting on discrimination, policy impacts, and institutional barriers affecting this community. Learn ethical sourcing methods, protective interviewing practices, and data analysis tools for tracking legislative changes and hate crimes.

Increasingly, authoritarian governments abuse laws, manufacture security concerns, deploy oligarch allies, and misuse state organs to intimidate and persecute independent journalists: an autocrats’ playbook tactic to “investigate the investigators.” In this critically topical keynote session, Gustavo Gorriti, the pioneering director of IDL-Reporteros in Peru, shares lessons learned and key insights about the power of collaboration, new tools, and uncompromising independence in the face of repression.

Following international supply chains can be challenging. But whether you are covering labor abuses or sanctions evasion or environmental damage as a by product of consumer goods, this session will give you the basics on where to get the documents you need, including major governmental and commercial shipping databases. Also, it will feature tips on how to dig through customs and corporate records as well as other tools and methods useful for journalists anywhere in the world.

Even groundbreaking investigations can struggle if they fail to reach engaged audiences. In today's attention-fragmented environment and with news avoidance on the rise, connecting with readers presents mounting challenges — especially for long-form journalism. This session explores proven engagement strategies and real-world examples of how to ensure investigative stories are read, shared, and spark meaningful public conversations that drive impact.

International legal frameworks are facing unprecedented challenges as globally authoritarianism is rising and democratic institutions are weakening. This keynote features Dr. Charles A. Adeogun-Phillips, whose distinguished career spans genocide investigations and white-collar crime prosecutions. He examines whether international rule of law remains viable amid geopolitical fragmentation and explores how weakening legal accountability creates urgent challenges for investigative journalism. Learn how journalists can navigate jurisdictional complexities, leverage international legal mechanisms, and hold powerful actors accountable when traditional enforcement systems fail.

Investigative journalism is increasingly threatened by restrictive regulations and abuse by bad-faith actors launching SLAPP suits in many countries. This panel examines diverse regulatory frameworks worldwide, from Europe's GDPR influence to emerging regional standards. Attendees will learn tailored strategies to counter legal threats and navigate "right to be forgotten" challenges while protecting press freedom and public accountability across different jurisdictions.

Journalists often rely on personal computers for their work and have no feasible alternatives to enhance security or separate highly sensitive communication from their personal devices. This workshop will introduce Tails, a secure, portable, and low-cost operating system that runs directly from a portable USB memory stick. Tails helps mitigate surveillance and network censorship while leaving no trace on the computer it is used on. It includes a suite of secure applications tailored for journalistic work and secure whistleblowing.

This workshop teaches journalists how to investigate oligopolies in the pharmaceutical industry that restrict access to essential medicines through high pricing and market manipulation. Participants learn to uncover price-setting mechanisms, expose patent extensions and lobbying tactics, reveal conflicts of interest, regulatory capture, and barriers to generic competition. The session provides practical tools for investigating complex market structures, holding pharmaceutical companies accountable, and informing policy debates that can improve healthcare access and affordability globally.

Oligarchs, criminals, sanctions-evaders, and other bad actors have found new and cheaper ways to hide their ill-gotten assets, thanks to emerging technologies, secrecy jurisdictions, and sophisticated enablers. But journalists are countering this camouflage with their own innovative tools, persistence, and collaborative projects. In this highly practical panel, investigative journalists from three continents will share open source resources, leaks databases, and investigative pathways that can help follow the money far beyond the identify of hidden owners.

Around the world there are individuals and groups fraudulently claiming Indigenous heritage for professional, political, and financial gain. But with the complicated nature of Indigenous identity, how can journalists identify fraudulent sources and groups? And how can they investigate stories involving Indigenous identity? This panel of expert Indigenous journalists will explore what those who commit Indigenous identity fraud gain, and the cost to Indigenous communities. Panelists will share examples of Indigenous identity fraud from around the world and tips on how to investigate these stories.

This panel brings together journalists from different regions who are experts in uncovering information useful for local and transnational stories. Discover untapped data sources, learn cross-border research techniques, and explore how databases from one country can unlock investigations in another. Gain access to a curated collection of international data resources that could transform your investigative work.

Working with data has become essential in investigative journalism. Brant Houston, a pioneer in this field and author of the seminal "Data For Journalists: A Practical Guide for Computer-Assisted Reporting," will guide participants step-by-step through fundamental data skills necessary for every newsroom. This hands-on workshop covers the basics of finding, analyzing, and storytelling with data, transforming numbers into compelling narratives. It's perfect for journalists ready to embrace data-driven reporting without the intimidation factor.

How can you turn investigative journalism into a documentary feature? This panel covers all the steps in the process — from research to production, attracting funding, and distribution. Participants learn how to identify which stories make good film subjects and how to decide which platforms work best for documentary storytelling, ranging from streaming services to festivals.

Environmental crimes routinely involve complex networks spanning remote locations and multiple jurisdictions, making traditional investigation methods challenging. This panel demonstrates how cutting-edge digital tools — including AI-powered satellite analysis, geospatial mapping platforms, and machine learning algorithms — can expose hidden environmental destruction. Attendees also learn practical techniques for cross-referencing environmental data with corporate networks, using satellite imagery for pattern recognition, and building compelling narratives that reveal previously undetectable crimes.

Exiled journalists face unique challenges in maintaining credible reporting while operating under constant surveillance and restricted access to their home countries. This panel explores practical strategies for building secure source networks, implementing digital and physical security protocols, and circumventing censorship from abroad. The session also covers lessons learned from successful exiled journalists, including how to avoid intelligence tracking, maintain investigative impact despite geographic barriers, and create sustainable workflows for accountability reporting under authoritarian pressure.

Sports investigations reveal power dynamics, corruption, and financial misconduct that are often hidden behind the spectacle of entertainment. This panel brings together journalists who will offer tips for getting access into insular sports organizations, cultivating sources within competitive environments, and following money trails through complex league structures. Speakers share methods for obtaining confidential documents, investigating institutional practices, and uncovering stories that transcend sports to reveal broader patterns of misconduct and governance failures.

Whistleblowers remain essential to investigative journalism, but face unprecedented threats from sophisticated surveillance tools and normalized criminal prosecutions. As governments globally expand retaliatory tactics and newsrooms shrink, even well-resourced outlets have made catastrophic source protection missteps. This session examines how spyware and authoritarian surveillance put journalists and their sources in danger while providing practical information on digital security protocols, legal safeguards, and ethical frameworks to defend the sources who enable vital public interest reporting.

Collaboration is one of the greatest investigative journalism tools of this century, but it comes with its own challenges. This panel brings together journalists from different regions to share their experience on cross-border projects, and present tips and ideas on how to make collaborations equitable, fair, and respectful, while also empowering journalists from all regions to hold powers to account. Panelists will also provide information about methodologies and resources that can be valuable for journalistic collaborations.

Massive movements of people and restrictive immigration policies create urgent stories requiring specialized reporting approaches. This session brings together colleagues working on migration investigations to explore cross-border collaboration, open source research tools, and the use of data analysis. Participants will learn techniques for investigating migrant trafficking, border enforcement, detention facilities, and policy. They share experiences on how to safely and ethically work with migrants as sources, establishing secure communication protocols, and maintaining appropriate journalist-source boundaries when covering displacement, asylum processes, and human trafficking networks.

Our networking sessions are just that: informal meet-ups where you can introduce yourself, talk about your work, brainstorm, and find colleagues to collaborate with. Here is a chance to meet colleagues from across the Middle East and North Africa in a relaxed atmosphere and help strengthen Arabic-speaking investigative networks.All sessions are first come, first served. Be aware that some sessions are in relatively small rooms and they will fill up quickly.

Ayush Krishna Tripathi from India will present the paper "Reinventing Investigative Journalism Leveraging AI, Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning." Ayush's paper critically assesses the significant ethical challenges arising from AI integration and offers actionable recommendations for news organizations to harness AI's power while upholding core journalistic values and ensuring public trust.Hasina Gori from South Africa will present the paper “Invisible Bias: How AI Shapes Gendered Narratives in Investigative Journalism.” Hasina explores the intersection of AI, investigative journalism, and gender, drawing on global and local examples to illustrate the stakes.Mathias Felipe de-Lima-Santos from Macquarie University and Federal University of São Paulo will present the paper "Generative AI in Southeast Asian Media: Navigating Limitations and Possibilities,” co-authored with Amalia Nurul Muthmainnah, Attanan Tachopisalwong, Tan Ling Ling, and Rechelle Ann T. Barraquias. The authors look at how Generative AI is being adopted in the region’s media industry and examines its challenges ranging from linguistic to cultural.🪑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.