Are you interested in exploring the depths of ocean data or conducting historical and human rights investigations with visual evidence from conflict archives? Join our online “Exposing the Invisible” talks focused on methods, cases and resources for investigating human rights violations in conflict, and for revealing the unseen or under-reported dynamics of the Ocean. Our guest experts will reveal their tactics, tools and challenges of working in these areas, providing practical insight and ethical considerations for investigators and researchers.
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Overview
This series of talks consists of two separate events. Each talk is 1hour and 30 minutes long, taking place online:
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8 April 2026 at 14:00 - 15:30 CEST: 'Documenting Human Rights Violations and International Crimes Using Open Source Research Methods', with Hadi al Khatib, Mnemonic.
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9 April 2026 at 14:00 - 15:30 CEST: 'Ocean Datasets for Investigations and Storytelling', with Mae Lubetkin
The talks require sign-up and attendance is free of charge. The language of the series is English.
Check the details about each session below at: "What are the sessions about?"
Who are these events for?
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This series addresses journalists and other media professionals, researchers, community investigators, activists, artists, scientists and others conducting research and investigations in the public interest.
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The sessions require no previous knowledge or experience of the topics addressed.
How do I sign up and join?
Event Ended / Sign up link removed
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Make sure you sign up at least one day before the talk you wish you join.
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Please leave a valid email address where you can receive sign-up confirmations and the event links.
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You will receive the link to the talks you sign up for one day before the event, and a reminder two hours before the start of each talk.
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The events are free of charge.
What are the sessions about?
Session 1 - on 8 April 2026 at 14:00 - 15:30 CEST: Documenting Human Rights Violations and International Crimes Using Open Source Research Methods
With Hadi al Khatib, Mnemonic
Drawing on over a decade of work by Mnemonic's team, the session will walk participants through the open source investigation cycle from discovery and capture to preservation, verification, and analysis. It will also showcase investigations from multiple contexts to present how scattered digital evidence is transformed into structured findings that support accountability actors. In addition, the session will address challenges such as mis-information and deepfakes and present resources to identify and counter manipulated or misleading online content.
About the speaker:
Hadi Al Khatib is the founder of the Syrian Archive and the Managing Director of Mnemonic, a leading NGO dedicated to forensically collecting, preserving, and verifying open-source digital documentation. Mnemonic investigates human rights violations and international crimes, supporting a wide range of accountability actors. Mnemonic hosts the Syrian, Yemeni, Ukrainian, Iranian, and Sudanese Archives, and it provides rapid response support in other contexts.
Session 2 - on 9 April 2026 at 14:00 - 15:30 CEST: Ocean Datasets for Investigations and Storytelling
With Mae Lubetkin
This session will focus on how to identify and use Ocean datasets as a tool for revealing the unseen or underreported dynamics of the world’s most significant bodies of water.
For investigative research and impactful storytelling, oceanographic datasets can be an essential resource for journalists, activists, artists, and anyone interested in data-driven approaches to understanding the ocean. These datasets can help communicate issues such as the climate crisis, environmental change, natural disasters, extractivism, and ocean justice. From bathymetric maps, subsea imagery, and 3D habitat models to satellite-derived observations and in situ real-time monitoring data, a vast range of oceanographic media and datasets is publicly available. Participants will gain an overview of the different types of ocean datasets available, the institutional and historical contexts that shape their production, and practical strategies for collaborating with ocean scientists and working with ocean data in investigative research and storytelling.
About the speaker:
Mae Lubetkin is an ocean scientist, transmedia artist and writer based in Paris and at sea. Their practice-led research remaps relations to bodies of water and digital worlds through investigation, counter-narrative, and memory. With a background in marine geology and subsea imaging, their artistic practice is in dialogue with Science while situated in queer, intersectional, anti-extractivist, and decolonial frameworks. Mae is the art and research lead for a new deep-ocean video game - installation project with the Interactive Media Foundation. They were recently a researcher or artist at Le Cabaoui, TBA21, and Inspirační Fórum Lab. Mae has sailed as Science Manager for over 30 expeditions with the Ocean Exploration Trust and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Their perspectives emerge through collective dialogue and shared moments across waters and depths.
Contact us
With questions about the sessions, reach out at eti@tacticaltech.org (GPG Key / fingerprint: BD30 C622 D030 FCF1 38EC C26D DD04 627E 1411 0C02).
About us
Tactical Tech is an international non-profit organisation that engages with citizens and civil-society organisations to investigate and mitigate the impacts of technology on society. Exposing the Invisible is a Tactical Tech project that develops resources, training and collaborations promoting investigation as one of the most important forms of public engagement.
This event is part of the Collaborative and Investigative Journalism Initiative (CIJI) project, co-funded by the European Union. CIJI aims to equip independent media outlets and individual journalists with resources, innovative networking infrastructure and standards-based methods that enable them to practice high-quality, and ethical and accountable collaborative and investigative journalism.
Disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.