Arena for Journalism in Europe has been supporting journalists to collaborate across borders for more than 15 years. Our Arena Academy has a strong track record training people in-person with fellowships, academic courses, and residencies. Now, Arena is launching our Online Academy with a seven week course: Your First Cross-border Investigation, adapted from our flagship cross-border … Read more
“Robert Gebeloff from the New York Times opened his 2026 Dataharvest panel by saying that this is the best conference in the world”, according to Maximilian Hatzl’s write-up. “I can only agree.” The Arena team were delighted to hear this, alongside the wider praise for this year’s conference; in post-conference reflections, several attendees claim 2026 … Read more
Many of Europe’s most expansive, illuminating investigations did not begin in a newsroom. They began in an auditorium, with an idea sparked by a quote on a powerpoint slide; or in a coffee shop, brainstormed with two new colleagues from across the continent; or over a beer, at the end of a long conference day, … Read more
We’re excited to announce that the Green to Grey investigation is a Sigma Award Winner for 2026! Our groundbreaking data journalism investigation, a collaboration between Arena and 11 news teams across Europe, revealed the scale of nature and cropland loss across the continent over a six year period. It was the first investigation of its kind, … Read more
Arena is happy to offer a number of grants to help reduce financial barriers for journalists wishing to attend Dataharvest – the European Investigative Journalism Conference on 28-31 May in Mechelen, Belgium. The deadline for all applications is 2 February 2026, 17:00 CET, and all grantees will be notified by mid-February. The grants are designed … Read more
Details for the 2026 Dataharvest conference can now be revealed! We’re returning to Mechelen between 28-31 May next year, and as always we look forward to being reunited with our community of Dataharvest veterans, as well as many new faces. We’ve been busy working on Europe’s flagship investigative and data journalism conference since the spring, … Read more
On October 1, the Green to Grey project went live. In the first investigation of its kind, 41 journalists and scientists from 11 countries worked together for 10 months to reveal the scale of Europe’s nature and cropland loss. We found that every year, Europe loses 1,500 km² to construction. Between 2018 and 2023, we … Read more
Arena is once again partnering with the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung to support 16 journalists to begin a cross-border investigation. Our hugely popular European Collaborative Journalism Programme (ECJP) is now open for applications for a 2026 cohort. You can apply with a letter of motivation, an investigation idea, work samples and references. Previous investigations have been … Read more
Over an unusually sunny mid-October weekend, journalists and scientists from across Europe gathered again in 2025 for the fourth Climate Arena conference. This year we were in Budapest, where specialist environment and climate reporters came together for panels, workshops and networking sessions that delivered practical tools, project ideas and behind-the-scenes revelations. Arena’s signature theme of … Read more
We’ve described our latest cross-border collaborative journalism project, Green to Grey, as an investigation that is the ‘first of its kind’. That’s a big claim – so, let us explain what we mean. When we launched the project, we outlined the story of how it came about: inspired by the Norwegian broadcaster NRK’s original investigation … Read more