About the Team
Here’s a little bit about the core team behind the CIJ.
James Harkin, Director
James is a journalist who covers social change and political conflict and whose work appears in Vanity Fair, Harper’s, GQ, The Smithsonian, Prospect and the Guardian. A former director of talks at the Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA), he once taught politics at Oxford University, and was associate producer on Adam Curtis’s two BBC series The Trap and All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace. His last book, Hunting Season, an investigated account of the rise of the Islamic State group and its campaign of kidnapping journalists, was published in November 2015 by Little, Brown in the UK and Hachette in the US. He is a fellow of the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, for an international project on new media, “fake news” and “disinformation.”
Tom Sanderson, Deputy Director
Tom joined the Centre for Investigative Journalism in 2014. He leads on all aspects of the CIJ’s training provision and oversees the development of funded projects and initiatives. Recent projects have focused on supporting new models of community and non-profit journalism with investigative training, helping journalists protect their sources and themselves and improving the standards of climate and environmental investigations globally.
Sami Aknine, Operations Manager
Before joining the CIJ, Sami spent over 10 years managing operations and international projects for Euromoney Institutional Investor, a FTSE 250 publishing group, then went on to set up operations systems and processes for Collectively, a non-profit digital media channel and collaboration platform focused on accelerating the shift to sustainable ways of living.
Marina Calland, Events and Social Media Manager
Marina started off as a journalist in Ukraine, writing about cultural events. Having spent a year in an American high school as a MUSKIE scholar, her English language and journalistic skills made her become a fixer and local producer for TVE, BBC World and RAI2, who were filming documentaries in Ukraine. She specialised in social issues, environment and human trafficking. After a year doing MA in International Journalism at City, University of London as a Chevening scholar, she did various journalistic and non-journalistic jobs for London information agencies, luxury travel magazines and even a stint as a Marketing and PR director for a luxury car and bike show in Moscow. She worked as an events manager at the Frontline Club in London before joining the CIJ in 2009. She’s been living and breathing #CIJSummer Investigative Journalism Conference ever since.
Jake Charles Rees, Head of the Logan Programme
Jake Charles Rees is a curator working in and around the media and culture. He’s produces the biannual CIJ Logan Symposium, Closed Circuit series and Logan Talks public lecture programme, and is currently focusing on leading the CIJ’s Source Protection Programme.
Juliet Ferguson, Programme Manager
Juliet manages the Access to Tools programme. She is a former journalist who has worked for the Telegraph and the BBC, starting out with BBC World Service radio and ending up on the BBC’s investigative programme, Panorama. She works part-time for the CIJ, sharing her days with Investigate Europe.
Minal Da Gama Rose, Programme Manager
Minal is returning to the CIJ to manage various bespoke training projects. She left in 2016 and worked with the Thomson Foundation for a short period as their Development Manager for projects in Turkey and across the Balkans before taking an extended maternity break.
When previously working for the CIJ she managed the charity’s finances and training programme in the UK and overseas for just over 7 years. Prior to that she worked with the Frontline Club organising their training for journalists working in conflict zones and also managed their membership portfolio. She has a Masters in International Politics – Peace & Conflict Studies, after which she went on to work with Conflicts Forum for a few years in London and Beirut to foster a peaceful dialogue between Political Islam and the West.
Beth Blackmore, Project & Training Manager
Beth joined the CIJ in 2021 from a learning & development consultancy in the non-profit sector, where she managed training and recruitment programmes. At the CIJ she manages training courses and projects, and supports with the coordination of events.
Adeolu Adekola, Project Manager, OCRI
Adeolu joined the CIJ to manage its Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI). Through his decade-long experience in project management, information technology, accountability in governance, civic engagement and investigative journalism, Adeolu has successfully facilitated media training and investigative story projects covering a wide range of big issues from education to migration and health.