“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
Dataharvest offers many opportunities for meeting new people, launching collaborations, and relaxing from your heavy workload.
Arena’s Data Skills Co-ordinator, Adriana Homolová, outlines our data team’s stance on AI in the Dataharvest 2026 programme. Large language models and generative AI have rapidly become an ever-larger presence in our private and professional lives. Some embrace the technology and use it daily; others are deeply critical and refuse to engage. Most of us are … Read more
We can’t wait to welcome you to the 16th edition of Dataharvest in 2026! From 28-31 May, we’ll once again gather Europe’s journalists in the historic market town of Mechelen. In this small, multi-cultural city of around 90,000 people, that sits halfway between Brussels and Antwerp, Arena for Journalism in Europe will host #Dataharvest26: 4 … Read more
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
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