Philippines

Go Hard Girls

How to stop reporting on your community and start working with them (feat. Go Hard Girls)

Ceej Tantengco-Malolos is an award-winning journalist and women empowerment advocate. In 2017, she published a pioneering investigative report about the gender gap within the Philippines’ sports media industry. Despite facing immense pressures and barriers in the male-dominated field, she turned her focus towards covering women and making change.

Her work has been recognised at the Palanca Awards for Literature, the Anvil Awards, Society of Publishers in Asia Awards, and the International Women’s Podcast Awards; she has also been part of accelerators for women social entrepreneurs such as the SHE Fellowship by The Spark Project and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

Mongolia

Positive Dadal

How we’re rebuilding a mental health media initiative into Mongolia’s first well-being platform

Altanzul Bat-Ochir is a psychologist and the Project Lead of Positive Dadal, a mental-health media initiative within Optimal N Max LLC, a social enterprise in Mongolia. She leads a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, designers, and storytellers producing research-based content to make mental health and well-being part of everyday conversation. After facing burnout and funding challenges, her team began rebuilding Positive Dadal into an independent platform exploring how media can contribute to collective well-being and social impact.

Singapore

Nanyang Technological University

What a small, focused little zine from Singapore can teach us about building community

Samuel He works on commissioned visual projects and teaches photojournalism and documentary classes at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is a founding investor in Our Grandfather Story, Singapore’s most well-loved micro-documentary content publisher. He also serves on the company’s board of directors.

Singapore

Meantime

What a small, focused little zine from Singapore can teach us about building community

Pang Xue Qiang is the founder and editor of Meantime magazine, a Singapore publication that revisits the country's history through personal stories. Published biennially in print with design experiments such as chopping off corners, drilling out chunks, even ripping pages by hand, each issue of Meantime is built around a different theme, which has included love stories, ghost stories, funny stories, bad stories, and breakup stories.

Malaysia

Pulitzer Center

Using AI for investigations and data (Clinic)

Kuek Ser Kuang Keng is the data editor at the Pulitzer Center, a non-profit journalism organisation based in Washington D.C., where he supports, trains and mentors journalists in doing environmental investigation and in-depth reporting.

United Kingdom

International Media Support

Media needs money. Here's how to incentivise and activate local capital

Clare heads up journalism and media viability at International Media Support, one of the largest media development organisations globally. She’s an award-winning journalist with more than two decade’s experience in journalism and innovation. She founded the Media Innovation Studio in the UK and pioneered many action research projects to find new ways of monetising journalism. Her main focus is on revenue models.

Myanmar

Thibi

Using AI for workflow automation (Clinic only)

Yan Naung Oak is the founder of Thibi, a data and design consultancy that specialises in building interactive web-based data tools and visualisation. He is passionate about civic tech, open data, and the power of new technologies to empower communities and civil society.

Lithuania

Media4Change

How we’re rebuilding local media through trust and connection

Neringa Jurčiukonytė leads Media4Change, an international community uniting journalists, experts, and citizens to co-create more inclusive and resilient media ecosystems. Her work focuses on rebuilding trust through shared learning, dialogue, and collaborative innovation.

Germany

DW Akademie

News isn’t free — even for the bots. Here are 5 ways to monetise in the age of AI

Attila is a freelance journalist and consultant with DW Freedom, the media development think tank of DW Akademie — Germany’s leading media development organisation, which invests in research, builds networks, and advocates for free and open media systems worldwide, including efforts to address the financial challenges facing the news industry. A former Stanford University John S. Knight Journalism Fellow, he works at the intersection of media, digital strategy, and media viability, helping independent media startups build sustainable models. His current focus is developing one of DW Freedom’s key thematic areas: journalism financing in the age of AI.

United States of America

Field Nine Group

How I’m rebuilding journalism’s trust infrastructure by working with creators

Adriana Lacy is the CEO of Field Nine Group, a media and technology company driving innovation at the intersection of consulting, analytics, and storytelling. Within Field Nine Group, she leads Influencer Journalism, which helps news organisations collaborate with creators to strengthen trust and engagement. Recognised on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, Adriana has held roles in newsrooms including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Axios, and now teaches media strategy to emerging journalists. Through her ventures and teaching, she champions new models that bridge traditional media with today’s digital communities.

Indonesia

Pulitzer Center

What the vanishing Thai mackerel taught us about rethinking journalism, action, and art

Intan manages the International Education and Outreach team at the Pulitzer Center, connecting journalism with audiences in the Global South. Before joining the Center, she led communications projects in Indonesia across gender equality, public health, and cultural relations. She is passionate about making information and knowledge accessible to build empathy, solidarity, and informed action.

Tanzania

JamiiAfrica

How to stop reporting on your community and start working with them (feat. JamiiAfrica)

Maxence Melo is an economist-turned-information architect. He leads JamiiAfrica, a regional non-profit entity on a mission to create a well-informed citizenry, promote responsive governance, and encourage active citizen participation. He has played an enormous role in revolutionising digital democracy while promoting transparency and accountability. Maxence was recognised by the African Union as one of the top 3 Leading African Innovators for Change in 2018 for strengthening the viability of whistleblowing policy tools in Africa.

United Kingdom

climateXchange

Why media needs advanced tools to re-shape climate coverage -- and that's where tech comes in

Shereen Daver is Programme Director and Innovation Lead at ClimateXchange (cXc), where she leads product and services at the intersection of journalism, technology, and data. With over 20 years in global communications and a focus on sustainability strategy, she led the creation of Maai, the world’s first Climate Narrative Intelligence Platform. Her work focuses on redefining climate storytelling through evidence, empathy, and systems thinking, empowering journalists to create reporting that informs, inspires, and drives real-world change.

Thailand

Multidisciplinary artist and curator

What the vanishing Thai mackerel taught us about rethinking journalism, action, and art

Pongpan Suriyapat is a multidisciplinary artist and curator known for transforming investigative journalism and community stories into immersive installations, including the acclaimed “I Miss You Pla Too Thai” project on Thailand’s vanishing mackerel. His exhibition work spans museums, public spaces, and world expos.

Indonesia

Tatkala.co

How a literary community in Bali survives the media apocalypse

Kadek Sonia Piscayanti is a writer, producer, playwright, lecturer, and researcher. She established the Mahima Community and the Mahima Indonesia Foundation to actively promote literacy and literature in Singaraja, North Bali. Her diverse literary contributions include the poetry anthology Burning Hair, the short story collection The Woman Without a Name, and the play Jayaprana Layonsari dan 11 Kisah Ibu. Expanding her influence globally, Piscayanti has spoken and performed at international events, such as the Oz-Asia Festival and cultural programs in France and the Netherlands, and founded the Singaraja Literary Festival in 2023.

India

BehanBox

Saumya Kalia is an associate editor at BehanBox, where she reports on labour, care, and communities. She has previously worked with The Hindu and The Swaddle, and as a reporting fellow covered issues of health rights and civic liberties. Her work has been recognised by the James Beard Foundation and Laadli Media Awards, among others. Saumya is drawn to experimenting with new forms and futures of storytelling. 

Pakistan

TCM News

Talha Ahad is a journalist podcaster and media entrepreneur telling Pakistan’s stories in a fresh digital-first way. He’s the Founder and CEO of The Centrum Media (TCM) the country’s first digital news network that brings powerful human stories to millions every month. He also hosts The Talha Ahad Podcast one of Pakistan’s most premium shows featuring four Prime Ministers corporate leaders changemakers and global guests. Through his work Talha is reimagining journalism blending storytelling creativity and purpose to create conversations that matter.

India

Report for the World

Preethi Nallu is co-founder and executive director at Report for the World, part of the Groundtruth Project. She was a founding editor at News Deeply. Born in Iran, raised in India, Preethi's career spans 14 countries across the global north and south. She has researched, reported and campaigned about humanitarian and media development issues. Her films and reports won multiple Webby awards, Migration Media awards, and the Human Rights Press Prize.

India

Independent Consultant

Panel: The days of mass audience traffic are over: What we’ve learned in Pakistan and India, and what we’ll do in 2026

Chitranshu has over a decade of experience in product and subscription roles in media. In his most recent role, he led the product and subscription business at Newslaundry — one of India’s leading reader-funded independent media organisations—where he oversaw teams that designed, built, and scaled forward-thinking products. His work was recognised with the WAN-IFRA Global Media Award for Best Innovative Digital Product. In 2024, he was among 25 media leaders globally selected for the AI Journalism Lab at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.

India

Newslaundry

Jayashree Arunachalam is Executive Editor and Chief Community Officer at Newslaundry, an independent, reader-supported website in India. She’s been a journalist and editor for over 16 years, working at publications like The Hindu and Fountain Ink. In her current avatar, she works at the intersection of partnerships, community and events to drive a successful subscription model at Newslaundry.