15:00
16:00 – 18:00
Speakers: Johannes Kristjansson (Iceland) and Sven Bergman (Sweden)
📍 Main Auditorium
TBA
18:00 – 20:00
NETWORKING & DRINKS
📍 Inner Yard of Stockholm School of Economics in Riga
08:30
09:30 – 10:00
Welcome Address
Nils Hanson, programme director
Edgars Spuravs, director of the Centre for Media Studies at SSE Riga
📍 Main Auditorium
10:00 – 11:00
Olga Rudenko (Chief Editor, Kyiv Independent, Ukraine)
Carolina Jemsby (moderator, Sweden)
📍 Main Auditorium
TBA
11:00 – 11:30
Break
11:30 – 13:00
EASY WAYS TO USE AI FOR RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Craig Silverman (USA)
📍 Main Auditorium
Wondering how you can safely integrate LLMs into your workflow? Curious about how agents can help? Struggling to verify suspected AI images and video? This session offers a look at core approaches and tools for using AI in ways that can enhance your investigative work and save time.
OCCRP: HOW OCCRP:s ALEPH
CAN HELP YOU
Shaya Laughlin (Malta)
📍 Auditorium 303
You’ve got a leak, a name, or a suspicious company — what’s your next move? In a world of complex financial secrecy, uncovering the truth demands data power. This session will help you master the all-new OCCRP Aleph Pro, which holds over four billion records of leaks, sanctions, corporate registries, and beyond. For years, Aleph has been the backbone of hundreds of investigations, and we have now evolved it to meet the challenges of modern reporting. Bring your laptop and learn to cross-reference targets, generate structured entities from raw text, and map hidden connections into visual networks. You will also learn how to secure access to protected leaks curated for journalists, activists, and researchers. This session is good for beginners and anyone who wants to learn to use Aleph Pro.
INVESTIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE. Part I
Lisa Röstlund (Sweden)
📍 Auditorium 311
The world is on the verge of leaving the “corridor of life” – the temperature range that can safely sustain human civilization. At the same time, investments in new oil and gas are experiencing another boom. Many argue that journalism has failed in its responsibility to convey the gravity of the crisis and to hold those in power accountable.
By interviewing researchers and journalists around the world, Lisa Röstlund, together with her colleague Alexandra Urisman Otto, has written Letting the World Know – a handbook on climate journalism. She will address the fundamentals every journalist needs to carry with them in the situation we are facing – along with practical advice on how to elevate investigative climate journalism in practice.
13:00 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:30
Craig Silverman (USA)
📍 Main Auditorium
We are witnessing a fundamental shift from search engines that deliver lists of user-discoverable links to AI-infused platforms that generate synthesized answers and limit the number of results. That’s bad news for investigators — but there’s still hope. This workshop will provide hands-on, actionable tools and approaches to find the information you need.
OCCRP: TOP 15 DOCUMENTS FOR UNCOVERING CORRUPTION
Miranda Patrucic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
📍 Auditorium 303
What kinds of documents are best when looking for a paper trail to prove corruption and criminality? We’ll countdown some of our favourites, from company statutes to U.S. affidavits to mortgage charges, and flag what to look out for.
INVESTIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE. Part II
Lisa Röstlund (Sweden)
📍 Auditorium 311
The world is on the verge of leaving the “corridor of life” – the temperature range that can safely sustain human civilization. At the same time, investments in new oil and gas are experiencing another boom. Many argue that journalism has failed in its responsibility to convey the gravity of the crisis and to hold those in power accountable.
By interviewing researchers and journalists around the world, Lisa Röstlund, together with her colleague Alexandra Urisman Otto, has written Letting the World Know – a handbook on climate journalism. She will address the fundamentals every journalist needs to carry with them in the situation we are facing – along with practical advice on how to elevate investigative climate journalism in practice.
15:30 – 16:00
Break
16:00 – 17:30
FINGERPRINTING WEBSITES
Craig Silverman (USA)
📍 Main Auditorium
A website can be a portal to uncover ownership, related sites, social media accounts, phone numbers, revenue, and more. But it’s getting more difficult to pull ownership data via whois and to find unique site elements and code that can link it to a larger network. This workshop shows you a range of free tools and techniques to fingerprint site content and infrastructure, link sites together, and reveal networks.
OCCRP: PROTECTING THE SOURCES
Vlad Lavrov (Latvia)
📍 Auditorium 303
The logistics of setting up a secure meeting with a source, about the major risks reporters could be facing, while holding such meetings and the ways to mitigate them.
HOW TO SURVIVE AS A FREELANCE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER
Johannes Kristjanson (Iceland)
📍 Auditorium 311
How do you build trust, find stories, protect sources and work independently as a freelancer? Investigative journalism can be especially challenging in a small country like Iceland, with fewer than 400,000 inhabitants and a tightly connected society where almost everyone knows – or knows of – everyone else. How do you survive as an investigative reporter in such a country/environment?
HOW TO TOPPLE A GOVERNMENT
Šarūnas Černiauskas (Lithuania)
📍 Auditorium 607
09:30 – 11:00
Carolina Jemsby, Gerda Nilsson Tysklind and Lovisa Thuresson (Sweden)
📍 Main Auditorium
When you are convinced that something remains hidden, even after a prosecutor has discontinued a preliminary investigation, how do you move forward? This first hour will focus on how to organize and structure a long-term investigative project and how to dig deeper than a five-year criminal investigation. Using The Lundin Case as a case study, we will cover research methods, source development and interview techniques. We will also talk
on how to structure a complex investigation and build a workflow over time, and how early editorial decisions shape the outcome of the work.
OCCRP:
OSINT 101: THE LATEST TOOLS, TRICKS AND TACTICS
Shaya Laughlin (Malta)
📍 Auditorium 303
OSINT is the latest buzzword in investigative journalism. But with shrinking newsroom budgets and a flood of “must-have” tools, it’s hard to know what’s actually worth using. This session cuts through the noise to focus on what works right now. Drawing on real cross-border investigations from OCCRP’s Research & Data team, Shaya will share the tools, techniques, and workflows behind geolocation, social media sleuthing, asset tracking, and smarter browsing. Whether you’re new to open-source research or need a refresher, you’ll leave with practical skills and trusted methods you can immediately apply.
Editors Workshop:
FROM FIREFIGHTING TO FUTURE PROOFING. Part I
Coco Gubbels (The Netherlands)
📍 Auditorium 607
Editors Workshop 1: From Firefighting to Future-Proofing
Focus: Strategic Thinking, Change Management and Resource Optimisation
In the high-pressure world of investigative journalism, the ‘urgent’ can often take precedence over the ‘important’. Editors often find it difficult to make time for long-term planning while managing daily deadlines and complex investigations. In this workshop, we will explore and practise transitioning from reactive management to proactive leadership.
Key takeaways:
Editors Workshop:
FROM FIREFIGHTING TO FUTURE PROOFING. Part I
Coco Gubbels (The Netherlands)
📍 Auditorium 607
Editors Workshop 1: From Firefighting to Future-Proofing
Focus: Strategic Thinking, Change Management and Resource Optimisation
In the high-pressure world of investigative journalism, the ‘urgent’ can often take precedence over the ‘important’. Editors often find it difficult to make time for long-term planning while managing daily deadlines and complex investigations. In this workshop, we will explore and practise transitioning from reactive management to proactive leadership.
Key takeaways:
11:00 – 11:30
Break
11:30 – 13:00
Investigative TV 2. VISUAL FIELDWORK AND INVESTIGATION
Lovisa Thuresson, Carolina Jemsby and Gerda Nilsson Tysklind (Sweden)
📍 Main Auditorium
The second session will explore how investigative journalism translates into visual storytelling working close together with the editor. We will be talking about how to make television out of complex investigations. This includes working with camera in sensitive environments, gaining access, filming in high-risk contexts, ethical considerations, and how to think visually during an ongoing investigation. We will also reflect on the interaction between reporting and filming in real time.
Miranda Patrucic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
📍 Auditorium 303
Great stories inspire, inform, and spark conversation—but only when they’re built on solid ground. Reporters face challenges every day: balancing perspectives, resisting the urge to rush, and ensuring that every claim is backed up. A truly great story isn’t just powerful—it’s also resilient, accurate, and legally safe.
As editor-in-chief, Miranda Patrucic has helped shape countless stories into their strongest form. In this session, she’ll share real-world examples, practical strategies, and insider tips to help us spot potential pitfalls before they become problems. Together, we’ll learn how to make our stories not only compelling but also unbreakable.
EASY WAYS TO USE AI FOR RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS. Repeated session!
Craig Silverman (USA)
📍 Auditorium 311
Wondering how you can safely integrate LLMs into your workflow? Curious about how agents can help? Struggling to verify suspected AI images and video? This session offers a look at core approaches and tools for using AI in ways that can enhance your investigative work and save time.
Editors Workshop: MASTERING THE HUMAN ELEMENT. Part II
Coco Gubbels (The Netherlands)
📍 Auditorium 607
Editors workshop 2: Mastering the Human Element
Focus: People Management, Mental Resilience and High-Stakes Collaboration
Transitioning from being a top-tier journalist to becoming an effective leader is one of the most challenging career changes. This workshop explores the multifaceted role of the editor as the ‘architect’ of a high-performing team. It’s not just about checking copy; it’s about creating an environment where ‘lone wolves’ collaborate, talent is nurtured and momentum is maintained, even when a project spans months or years. We will address the balance between being a peer and a boss, and explore how to lead with authority while maintaining the trust of your reporters.
Key takeaways:
13:00 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:30
INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWING
Jim Mintz and Stefanie Dodt
📍 Main Auditorium
Jim Mintz and Stefanie Dodt show how to turn reluctant strangers into helpful sources by reconsidering investigative interviewing. Interview techniques tend to focus on on-the-record conversations and the objective of obtaining quotes.
When it comes to approaching strangers to become sources (investigative interviewing), the rules are completely different. This training will inspire you to rethink ways of approaching witnesses, former employees, industry insiders and other possible sources.
Vlad Lavrov (Latvia)
📍 Auditorium 303
Physical security for journalists: how to understand that you are in danger and ways to mitigate the threats.
INVESTIGATIVE TV 3: FROM INVESTIGATION TO WATCHABLE DOCUMENTARY
Gerda Nilsson Tysklind, Carolina Jemsby and Lovisa Thuresson (Sweden)
📍 Auditorium 311
How do you create a great TV product that doesn’t compromise journalistic integrity? The final session will focus on the editorial and narrative process: how to shape extensive investigative material into a coherent and engaging documentary. We will discuss structure, dramaturgy, story arcs, balancing complexity with clarity, and how to maintain both factual rigor and emotional impact in the final edit.
15:30 – 16:00
Break
16:00 – 17:30
HOW TO BUILD INTERESTING EMAILS THAT HOOK STRANGERS TO HELP YOU
📍 Main Auditorium
Reporters’ approaches to crucial insiders are often ghosted – the potential sources don’t even bother to respond. It’s an unfortunate point of failure in many investigations: Not getting enough help from knowledgeable witnesses, former employees, and industry insiders, and not hearing their voices in the stories.
Stefanie Dodt and Jim Mintz show how emails to formers often fail because they are boring, pushy or vague. The key that unlocks the cooperation of real insiders is understanding the six ways you may be interesting to them, and to benefit from the six ways they may be interesting to you.
Line by line, they demonstrate un-boring email examples that cannot be ghosted. The result is information and help from knowledgeable perspectives that deepens your reporting.
OCCRP: ORGANISING THE PROJECT
Miranda Patrucic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Shaya Laughlin (Malta)
📍 Auditorium 303
How do you start, and how do you avoid getting lost? Tips on methods to be efficient and focused.
EUROPE’S WASTE CRISIS: INVESTIGATIVE STRATEGIES FOR MAPPING, TRACKING, AND EXPOSING ILLEGAL WASTE
Panel discussion. In collaboration with Journalismfund Europe.
Aleksandar Metodijev, Leana Hosea, Brenda Chávez
📍 Auditorium 311
Europe’s waste crisis is not merely an environmental issue. It is a complex, cross-border system built around profit and regulatory failure, and open for crime opportunities. How can media turn hidden waste systems into public issues calling for accountability? This panel brings together three investigations that collectively demonstrate how waste is moved and dumped, whether through negligent governance, or outright criminal enterprise, and what are the threats that have been mounting and how they are being allowed to escalate with little oversight or accountability. How can investigative journalists expose opaque transnational waste systems? The discussion will focus on:
19:00 – 23:00
GARDEN PARTY
📍 Inner Yard of Stockholm School of Economics in Riga
