CIJ 2025 – a Year in Review

2025, the 21st year of the CIJ’s existence, was a time of enormous growth and activity for us, as our footprint became increasingly global and our two major international programmes, our Open Climate Reporting Initiative and our Source Protection Programme arrived at full maturity. Thanks to a fantastic cadre of new friends and trainers, the CIJ’s training footprint can now be felt on every continent, and in most countries, in the world.

As we spread our wings, it’s easier to see the impact that public interest journalism can have. From the publication of climate stories in Africa and Latin America to journalists helped under threat in Yemen, it’s easy to forget (amid natural CIJ modesty) that the work that we do has effects in the real world beyond the sometimes insular profession of journalism. Not only does training in powerful techniques for public interest investigations make the entire eco-system for democratic accountability healthier and more resilient, it also helps to inspire the public to achieve concrete policy goals, and to ferret out malfeasance. These are the golden threads that connect our work around the UK and Ireland to our international work. And, in a world of chaos and democratic backsliding, they’re more important than ever.

So, in the rare spirit of blowing our own Christmas trumpet, here are some facts and figures about what we do, both at home and abroad:

 

2025 in Numbers

Number of people trained:

– Scheduled Courses: 746

– Bespoke Courses: 133

– Source Protection Programme charitable and bespoke: 471

– CIJ Summer Investigative Journalism Conference: 214

– CIJ Cardiff Conference: 80

– Open Climate Reporting Initiative: 16

– Dark Green Programme: 15

 

Number of cups of tea and coffee drunk: over 1300!

 

CIJ Hall of Fame:

We always proudly share all the journalistic achievements of our graduates, speakers and trainers. To give you a few examples, in 2025 alone:

Paraguay-based journalist, and CIJ Open Climate Reporting Initiative 2021 graduate, who later became a CIJ trainer, Maximiliano Manzoni won one of the three Emerging Journalists of the Year of the 2025 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards.

Another Open Climate Reporting Initiative graduate and later CIJ Summer Conference speaker Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi also won an award in the food and agriculture category of the 2025 Covering Climate Now Journalism Awards.

CIJ speakers and trainers who won or were highly commended in the British Journalism Awards ceremony 2025: Cathy Newman (Journalist of the Year; Interview of the Year), Leigh Baldwin and Luke Barratt (Highly Commended, Energy and Environment Journalism), Hannah Devlin and Tom Burgis (Winners, Health and Life Sciences), Shaun Lintern (Highly Commended, Health and Life Sciences), Peter Geoghegan, Lucas Amin and Jenna Corderoy (Winners, Specialist Journalism), Joshi Herrmann (Winner, Local Journalism).

 

But it is our CIJ Lyra McKee Bursary graduates that really make us proud, because all of them come from underprivileged backgrounds and have faced barriers to breaking into journalism!

This year, CIJ Lyra McKee graduate 2021 Cherise Hamilton-Stephenson was nominated for New Journalist of the Year at the British Journalism Awards for her investigation into unregulated skin whitening IV drips. She worked alongside Nina Hodgson, Emily Roe, Omar Mehtab, Alice Anderson, Tom Ross and Ian Watkins. You can watch the documentary, which was made for Channel 4 News, here.

Another CIJ Lyra McKee 2025 graduate, Nathaniel Peutherer, was part of the 2025 Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism winning team. A cross-border investigation into the Russian shadow fleet won this prestigious award and our Nathaniel was part of the UK team with SourceMaterial and Dialogue Earth.

 

#CIJLyraMcKee Bursary Training and Mentoring Scheme 2025

Each new CIJ year starts with the opening of applications for the CIJ Lyra McKee Investigative Journalism Training and Mentoring Bursary Scheme. It’s one of the most fulfilling initiatives we run.

The scheme started because we were shocked and saddened by the killing of the young and talented Northern Irish journalist Lyra McKee, whom we knew well. We wanted to do something to keep her memory alive.

Nearly seven years on from that tragic day, and with the support of Lyra’s family, we’ve trained 61 young journalists from underprivileged backgrounds from the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

This programme is phenomenally successful, with 50% of past trainees working in journalism. To compare, the percentage of UK university journalism graduates working in the media 18 months after graduation is 17%.

This year, 10 trainees, including three from Ireland, joined the programme.

It includes in-person investigative journalism training at the CIJ Summer Conference as well as regular online mentoring sessions, which culminate in a Pitch to the Editors day.

Pitching stories to working editors is a unique opportunity. Most “grown-up” journalists never had a chance to present their stories to 3-4 working editors at the same time. This year, the line up of editors included both UK and Irish media, thanks to our partnership with the Press Council of Ireland, which co-sponsored the Irish trainees.

“Absolutely brilliant, and I would 100% recommend to any young journalist who doesn’t have the means to access training to develop their passion into a viable career.”

 

CIJ Online Training

This year we officially launched the Climate Investigations Course, which was developed using the expertise and network established during the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) – see below. It covers areas such as climate investigation fundamentals, climate finance, ECOSINT, and data-driven climate investigations. You can book each module individually, but the All Modules 20% discount makes it even more affordable. The All Modules places sell fast!

Introduction to Information Security for Journalists takes the best from our Source Protection Programme but makes the content accessible to a wider audience. Source protection is more than just digital hygiene – it’s an essential investment in your investigative career. This course was a big hit at our #CIJCardiff Conference in November (see below).

Building on the success of the hugely popular Supply Chain Investigations training from last year, we have developed another training session focused specifically on Investigating Trade Data. The first run also sold out in a couple of weeks, so don’t worry if you missed out this time – it’s sure to run again soon!

“All the sessions were insightful and engaging. I hope the climate investigations course continues to be expanded and iterated. Once again, the course was excellent, thanks to the CIJ team!” – Climate Investigations Course, 2025

“This was fantastic, so useful and came away with lots of resources to check out. Would definitely recommend.” – Information Security for Journalists, 2025

“Excellent course. Perfect use of time. Everything I learnt was new to me, so I’m really looking forward to putting it to good use. I couldn’t have wished for better.” – Supply Chain Investigations, 2025

We do not make money on our training. We offer a sliding scale of ticket prices with especially affordable tickets for students and freelancers. All the money raised is re-invested in training development.

 

CIJ Training Plans for 2026

Look out for a refined Climate Investigations Course 2026: we have developed an entirely new session covering best practice on Reporting for Impact.

We’re also developing a multi-module course on Investigating the AI Industry, which will cover the actions, impacts and supply chains of the AI industry to help researchers cover this emerging beat. This course is at a trial stage, but we intend to launch it in early 2026.

Finally, we are developing an Advanced Financial Investigations course, representing the next step up from our existing Financial Investigations training, for journalists and researchers who may already have foundational knowledge of the area and are looking to go more in-depth.

See the full training schedule here. 

 

Bespoke Training

If your organisation needs specifically-tailored training, check out our bespoke training offering!

In 2025 alone, we’ve worked with a wide range of organisations to build tailored training programmes for their staff and research teams, from respected news organisations like the Economist and DMG Media, to specialist publications such as Which? and Incisive Media; alongside global journalism support organisations like Earth Journalism Network and Report for the World; and many academic research centres, universities and the Educational Institute of Scotland.

 

CIJ Summer Investigative Journalism Conference

CIJ Summer Conference is a place to learn, network and get inspired. A fantastic antidote to the doom and gloom journalists face each day, in these times of job cuts, mistrust of journalism and fake news galore.

This year was no exception. It gathered some of the best speakers and trainers and over 180 delegates from the UK and internationally to share ideas, knowledge and skills (and to drink lots of coffee!).

The Annual Gavin MacFadyen Memorial Lecture was delivered by Cathy Newman, who was named Journalist of the Year at the 2025 British Press Awards ceremony.

She spoke about her investigation into the Church of England’s serial sex abuser John Smyth, which has now won her the prestigious British Press Awards accolade. (The video of the talk is now available on the CIJ YouTube channel).

 

Other speakers included Rianna Croxford, Dónal MacIntyre, the 2025 Paul Foot Award winner Patrick Butler, Joshi Herrmann, Matilda Davies, and Cynthia O’Murchu among many others.

We even managed to get some data editors in one room:  Pamela Duncan, John Walton and Tom Calver gave an insight into the world of data journalism, a set of skills the CIJ has pioneered in the UK since the early 2000s.

As always there was a lot to choose from, as we ran 4 simultaneous strands of training and talks.

You can see all last year’s speakers and trainers here and watch all the recorded talks on our YouTube channel.

“I love CIJ Summer Conference and will look forward to it next year. Diverse topics, speakers, good mix of formats.”

 

Climate Investigations Masterclass

Another successful climate-focused CIJ Summer Pre-Conference event took place thanks to the Open Climate Reporting Initiative.

While previously these pre-conference days focused on climate investigations networking, helping journalists from the UK meet colleagues from all over the world, this year we organised and hosted a Climate Investigations Masterclass, which combined networking and training. The tickets sold out six weeks in advance!

The list of participants included six recipients of the Climate Investigations Training Scholarship scheme from Côte d’Ivoire, Peru, Nigeria, The Gambia and India.

Uniquely for in-person events, we had a diverse pool of experienced Climate Investigations trainers and speakers. This year the trainers came from Argentina, Nigeria, India and the UK.  They shared their knowledge and expertise on a variety of climate-related topics: from specific tools to understanding the mechanisms and politics of climate-related issues.

“Enriching sessions on the climate issue, which is not only environmental but also political and ethical. From investigating corruption in climate finance to greenwashing and climate justice, I learnt the best investigative practices and techniques for dealing with this global issue. It was a great experience, especially in terms of networking and sharing experiences.”

 

CIJ Cardiff Conference

This November, the CIJ travelled to the Welsh capital for our annual regional investigative journalism conference.

#CIJCardiff Conference was organised in partnership with Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture (Jomec) and featured a selection of our investigative journalism talks and training.

The day started with veteran journalist Martin Tomkinson talking about his life in journalism. Freedom of Information Act expert Jenna Corderoy explained how to use the Act for your investigative research. Investigative journalist Maxence Peigné showed how to investigate companies using publicly available material. Award-winning journalist and author Tansy Hoskins advised on how to protect yourself and your sources and CIJ Deputy Director and trainer Tom Sanderson looked at how to find open-source information using advanced search and other techniques.

Over 80 people, mainly local journalists and students, attended the CIJ Cardiff Conference. Some travelled further afield, from Bristol and even London!

“This must be essential for all journalists and journalism students”, said one of the delegates. 

 

The Source Protection Programme (SPP)

In 2025 the SPP team, with our partners at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, developed new training materials and sessions including Using AI Safely and Trauma Informed Reporting. They focus on the growing needs and challenges faced by reporters in the US. Through collaborations with nonprofit organisations including 100 Days of Appalachia and the Movement Media Alliance we supported grassroots reporters both online and in-person by continuing to offer free-to-access training to reporters who desperately need it.

In August we teamed up with the ACOS Alliance and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and delivered a series of training sessions built specifically for reporters covering the US/Mexico border. These programmes took place in Albuquerque, NM and El Paso, TX and saw more than 60 journalists from across the southern United States take part. We focused on everything from digital security to legal advice, to an A-Z of surveillance technologies and architecture as well as explainers on the increasing militarisation of the border. We hope to follow up on this hugely successful project with a similar programme in Mexico in 2026.

We also worked to refresh and deliver our paid training for larger newsrooms around the world. These engagements are a vital part of the SPP and help us to continue delivering our charitable work free of charge. In total SPP trained nearly 500 reporters in more than 30 countries in 2025.

If you would like to discuss a charitable or paid-for programme for your team or newsroom please do get in touch.

 

Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI)

Through its third implementing year from our HQ in the UK, OCRI has continued to grow in leaps and bounds, providing skills to journalists across the world from Argentina to Ghana, DR Congo to India and Australia to Canada.

Based on the curriculum development in 2024 under OCRI, we launched the online Climate Investigations Course in January this year. The three sell-out runs of the course have seen 210 participants from EVERYWHERE – Africa, Australia, Europe, Asia and the Americas. This course is now a regular in our online training schedule and a very popular one too.

In 2025 28 investigative, cross-border and collaborative stories uncovering multidimensional climate and environmental issues were published as a result of our OCRI training.

14 journalists from 11 countries took advantage of OCRI’s Climate Investigations Training Scholarship that provided an opportunity to either participate in one of two online Climate Investigation Courses scheduled for summer and autumn or attend the 2025 CIJ Summer Conference (including a Climate Investigations Masterclass) in London.

Six scholarship recipients from Côte d’Ivoire, Peru, Nigeria, The Gambia and India were in London for the CIJ Summer Conference while the other participants from Burkina Faso, the UAE, Sudan, Mali, India, Egypt and Ghana took part in the Climate Investigation Course sessions online.

Want to read more about how OCRI has institutionalised investigative reporting for climate action, benefited communities in 2025 and what to expect in 2026? Click here.

And if you’d like to hear from staff, trainers, partners and participants involved in the programme about how climate investigations achieve real-world impact, we have a special webinar coming up on 29 January, with a distinguished international panel:

Adeolu Adekola, OCRI Project Manager, CIJ

Amy Westervelt, Climate Journalist, Podcaster and Author

Maximiliano Manzoni, Climate Journalist

Syed Nazakat, Founder and CEO, DataLEADS

It’s free to attend so book your place here.

 

Dark Green

At the start of the year, we had the opportunity to put together a specialised programme of support for European journalists to dig into the many facets of money linked to the climate crisis. This programme, entitled Dark Green: Shining a Light on Climate Finance, covered a wide range of subjects from the murky PR and corporate-capture business of greenwashing to researching the voluntary carbon offsets market.

Thanks to support from JournalismFund Europe, we were able to deliver the training without cost to a specially selected cohort of 15 climate journalists from 7 different countries across the continent. Selecting the cohort members from the 100+ applications received presented us with one of the year’s most difficult decisions!

The course built on our curriculum development for the Climate Investigations Course, but added in several relevant elements from Supply Chain Investigations to Financial OSINT and using the new EU corporate reporting regulations. Following the training we were also able to provide small grants to help some members of the cohort pursue related stories. It’s been rewarding to see those projects come to publication over the rest of the year and you can read about them here.

 

Looking into the future

So that’s a wrap for 2025. But we’re already finalising our plans for the coming twelve months, and it promises to be another bumper year of training, mentorship and conferences.

 

Please do check our website and sign up to our regular newsletters, where you can see a huge roster of courses already booking until July 2026, and including our hugely successful, deeply global Climate Investigations Course. CIJ courses sell out long in advance, so book now to avoid disappointment. If your newsroom needs training in advanced digital security from our internationally respected Source Protection Programme, or in the many investigative skills offered through our Bespoke training, ask the budget-holder to reach out to the CIJ and we’ll make it happen.

What can I tell you about what else we have in store? Applications will open early next year for the 2026 CIJ Lyra McKee training and mentoring bursary scheme; as the reputation of the scheme grows, last year we had 122 applications. I can tell you that next year’s CIJ Summer Conference will take place on Thursday 25 and Friday 26 June – mark the dates in your calendar!

After the success of 2025 in Cardiff, we’re already thinking of plans and venues for another CIJ regional conference; again, check our website and our newsletter. Also next autumn, I can reveal that we’re planning a brand new CIJ Logan Symposium. After the sell-out success of the 2024 event at the Barbican, the whole CIJ team can’t wait.

For now, though, we plan to spend the Yuletide season recharging our batteries, eating our fill and lazily contemplating the flowers in the CIJ garden. We hope you are too; a merry and relaxing Yuletide to all. Hope to see every last one of you, either online or in the real world, in 2026.

 

Don’t miss our festive reading, listening and things to watch list.

Have a very happy holiday season!

James Harkin and everyone at the CIJ