Dataharvest 2026 announcement launches call for proposals, reveals developments

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The Dataharvest text logo on a navy blue background with a blue and green pixellated graphic surrounding the text.

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

‘Green to Grey’ investigation read by more than 3 million

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The Green to Grey logo on a background grid of satellite images of highly built-up 'grey' areas. The website URL greentogrey.eu and the hashtag are beneath the main logo. At the bottom is the Arena logo, stating this is a collaborative project of Arena for Journalism in Europe, and at the very bottom is a credit to Pleides, CNES and Airbus for the background images.

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

Applications open for 2026 European Collaborative Journalism Programme

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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

Whistleblowers, data and false solutions: Collaborating on climate justice at Climate Arena 2025

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A terrace populated with journalists at tables, in discussion. In the foreground, a couple of young journalists wearing Climate Arena lanyards are discussing animatedly.

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

‘First of its kind’: Behind the scenes of Green to Grey’s groundbreaking data investigation

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A collage of the green to grey logo on the left, with a colour coded map of Europe on the right.

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

Climate Arena Fellows begin investigations ahead of 2025 conference

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The 2025 Climate Arena fellows stand with arms outstretched in front of a statue in Bratislava. (One participant's face is redacted at their request.)

This weekend, the 2025 Climate Arena Fellows met for the first time. By all accounts, the group has seen a fruitful start to their collaborative, cross-border climate and environmental investigations. On 12-13 September, in Bratislava, Slovakia, our latest fellows cohort came together to get to know each other, receive an overview of cross-border, collaborative journalism … Read more

Apply for a 2025 Climate Arena Fellowship

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A group of early to mid career journalists posing for a photo on the steps of a small building. They are the Climate Arena Fellows from 2024. The bottom third of the image is overlaid with Climate Arena branding, and a title: 'Climate Arena Fellowships 2025'.

Do you have a cross-border and investigative climate story? Are you eager to work with others on your project in a team setting? If so, apply for our Climate Arena 2025 fellowship! Successful applicants will receive mentoring, financial support and two opportunities to meet with your cohort, including at this year’s Climate Arena conference in … Read more

The Dataharvest 2025 Illustration Gallery

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An illustration of the Dataharvest 2025 keynote, showing Ulla Sätereie interviewing Laurent Richard. Illustrations of the subjects they discussed, such as murdered journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, surround an illustration of the two seated and talking, with Laurent holding a microphone.

The tradition of capturing Dataharvest via live illustration lives on! This year, Brussels-based illustrator Pieter Fannes returned to the conference to deliver his beautiful snapshots of our community. Conference-goers can see Pieter’s works in progress as he sits among them in sessions and, throughout the conference, as he completes drawings, drafts are displayed on the … Read more

“The power of Dataharvest in action”: Our summary of the 2025 conference

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Laurent Richard giving the keynote to a full auditorium at Dataharvest 2025

At another sold out Dataharvest, 500 journalists from around the world arrived in Mechelen, Belgium to launch or continue collaborations, hear each other’s stories and understand each other’s work, and share the skills that make contemporary investigative journalism so powerful. But we know many of our friends and colleagues were not able to make it this year. So, … Read more