Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellowship

Fellows of AlgorithmWatch’s reporting program will research surveillance and discrimination

As we approach the end of the third year of the Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellowship, we are delighted to welcome a new cohort of eight journalists and researchers. This round will focus on two key clusters: digital surveillance and AI-driven intimate image abuse.

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December 9, 2025

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Within the frames are people bound to their office cubicles; beyond them, individuals work freely from diverse locations, connected through digital signals.

Yutong Liu & Digit / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The fellowship officially launched in December in Berlin, where the new cohort gathered to kick-off their investigations and meet the AlgorithmWatch team. Building on last year's investigations on the supply chain of AI, the new reporting fellows will examine how AI-based technologies reinforce power imbalances and threaten fundamental rights.

Over the next six months, fellows will pursue stories ranging from the deployment of AI-powered surveillance technologies in public spaces, such as face recognition systems; access to sensitive information in chatbots and its impact on vulnerable groups; the use of predictive policing systems local neighborhoods; and cases of AI-facilitated intimate image abuse, including AI-generated child sexual abuse material and the use of non-consensual sexualisation tools.

The fellowship provides editorial and financial support, mentorship sessions with seasoned journalists and researchers in the algorithmic accountability field, and opportunities to publish the resulting investigations both on AlgorithmWatch's platforms and other relevant media outlets in Europe.

AlgorithmWatch's reporting fellowship is the only European program of its kind that provides support for both EU and non EU-based applicants, including journalists based in the UK, Türkiye, Georgia or Ukraine. Applicants come from a diverse variety of backgrounds — this year we received around 150 submissions from investigative journalists, engineers, lawyers, policy researchers and academics.

Here are the selected candidates for the fifth cohort of AlgorithmWatch's reporting fellowship. Welcome!

Marta Abbà

Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellow (2025-2026)

Marta specializes in environmental crimes, migration, gender rights, and indigenous rights. She produces interdisciplinary and cross-media reports with an intersectional and decolonized perspective, and her work has been published in media outlets such as Wired, Voxeurop, Lavialibera, Lifegate, OBCT, Unbias the News, Altreconomia, QCode, and In Genere. She is a member of the journalism collectives Info.Nodes, DatiBenecomune and Clean Energy Wire (CLEW), and has received scholarships from the JournalismFund, the Earth Journalism Network, and the International Journalists Programmes. She has also been part of investigative journalism workshops by Display Europe and WepodAcademy, and of science journalism by the European Research Centre (Frontiers) program and the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

Laura Carrer

Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellow (2025-2026)

Laura is an investigative journalist based in Italy. She mainly writes about state and corporate surveillance for the Italian investigative newspaper IrpiMedia. She has published independent investigations and research on the use of biometric technologies at borders, communities and gender issues. She works as a freelancer for national and international newspapers.

Mayya Chernobylskaya

Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellow (2025-2026)

Mayya is a freelance journalist based in Germany. She reports locally from Frankfurt/Hesse, as well as contributing to cross-border investigations. After studying history, she undertook professional training in economic reporting. Her work focuses on gender-related social and political issues, particularly anti-feminist movements and their impact. She often covers digital cultures and their societal effects, including how online groups organize, mobilize, and influence the offline world. As an AlgorithmWatch fellow, she will explore how reactionary actors leverage AI-enabled platforms and data infrastructures and its impact on fundamental rights.

Cécile Debarge

Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellow (2025-2026)

Cécile is a freelance journalist with more than 10 years of experience in international broadcast media and newspapers. Since 2014 she extensively covered migration, human and women rights throughout Europe, Africa and Central America. Over the years, her journalistic approach slowly moved from a long-form and long-term approach to an investigative documentary work. Her work has appeared in Mediapart, RFI, ARTE and others. As an AlgorithmWatch fellow, she will investigate how the rise of AI-generated child sexual abuse images is broadening the range of children exposure to sexual violence.

Lotte Debrauwer

Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellow (2025-2026)

Lotte is an investigative journalist from Belgium, currently based in Sweden. She reports on environmental and social issues, with work published in outlets such as De Morgen, Knack, and Eos. She was a 2025 fellow of the European Collaborative Journalism Program by Arena for Journalism. Her investigations have been supported by JournalismFund Europe and IJ4EU.

Carlotta Dotto

Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellow (2025-2026)

Carlotta is an award-winning investigative journalist and editor. She covers topics such as gender inequality, digital violence, migration, human trafficking, and mental health. She is passionate about using data, digital tools, and evidence-based methods to create impactful, human-centered stories in innovative ways. Over the last four years, she has worked as a senior visual editor at CNN along with the Data and Graphics, Special Projects and As Equals teams, based between London and Hong Kong. Additionally, she is a trainer and public speaker in data journalism, information design and OSINT tools.

Ana Ornelas

Algorithmic Accountability Reporting Fellow (2025-2026)

Photo: Gabriel Ruffato

Ana is an educator, activist, and content creator from Brazil, living in Berlin. With over seven years of experience in the pleasure and education sectors, she has collaborated with platforms such as Cheex, Lustery, and The Porn Conversation. Ana is currently the Advocacy Officer for the Digital Intimacy Coalition and the Policy Officer for Digital Rights for the European Sex Workers Alliance. Her work ensures that sex workers, sexual rights defenders, and survivors of tech-facilitated gender-based violence are represented in digital policy making.

We respect the wish of fellows not to be featured with a biography.

The fellowship is sponsored by:

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