New Bellingcat Workshops Announced for February - April 2020

Bellingcat will hold a series of workshops in spring 2020, including:

• Amsterdam: February 17 – 21 (FULL, wait-list available)
• London: March 2 – 6 (FULL, wait-list available)
• New York City: March 2 – 6 (FULL, wait-list available)
• Berlin: March 30 – April 3 (FULL, wait-list available)
• Toronto: April 27 – May 1

Please email us at workshops@bellingcat.com with the information requested below if you would like to attend. Please do not register for a training if you are not certain you can attend; you will be invoiced shortly after your attendance is confirmed. 

• Name
• Organisation
• Billing address (including name)
• Contact email
• What three things would you like to learn on this course?
• Any special requests, information, dietary restrictions, etc.

Due to high demand, workshop spaces fill up quickly with only 20 participants per event. In particular, the Amsterdam and London events are already over half-way full from early registrations from our workshop mailing list (see sign-up link at the bottom of this email). We grant seats on a first-come, first-serve basis after basic screening of participants. We consider the participation of government employees on a case-by-case basis to ensure that our trainers are comfortable with the participant’s role and function, and that other participants do not feel uneasy due to the government employee’s presence at the training. If you are a government employee wishing to attend a workshop, please detail how you envision using the skills from our training in your job and what functions you perform. We do not allow members of any military or intelligence service to attend our workshops.

We anticipate holding over a dozen workshops in the United States, Canada, and Europe throughout 2020, including events in Washington D.C., Geneva, Paris, the Bay Area (U.S.), the Midwest (U.S.), and additional events in London and Amsterdam.

The participation fee for our five-day workshops is €2200 per person (excluding VAT), receivable by Bellingcat. Conversion rates from other currencies and credit card fees are at the expense of the participant, with payment methods that include direct transfer to IBAN of Bellingcat, or payment by credit card. The participation fee does not cover participants’ accommodation or travel costs. These workshop fees fund the costs for Bellingcat’s award-winning research around the world.

Participants are required to bring their own laptops, and Google Earth Pro (free to download here) should be installed ahead of the workshop. We strongly recommend having a Facebook account during the workshop (does not need to be your real, personal account) in order to participate in a number of exercises that build Facebook research skills. WiFi will be provided at the workshop for all participants.

The workshop will be split into two main sections. The first three days will be dedicated to teaching participants a range of open source investigation skills, with case studies and practical examples focused on topics including conflict, crime, corruption, and verification. The first two days will focus on investigations of videos and photographic content, and the third day will focus on social media investigation.

The last two days allow participant to apply those skills to topics of their choice, with assistance from the workshop leaders and Bellingcat team members. On the final day, the progress of these projects will be presented to the group and future steps in the investigation will be discussed. Where possible and desirable for the participants, Bellingcat will provide additional help with those investigations after the workshop is concluded.

The intention of the workshop is to teach participants the core skills required for open source investigation, giving them sufficient time with practical examples to develop solid investigative experience, and teach a range of tools and methodologies that can be applied to their own work.

More information on our workshops can be found in this article from The New Yorker. Additional details on our workshops and training agendas can be found in a document here, which we encourage you to survey if you are interested in attending. If you wish to participate, please send the following information to workshops@bellingcat.com:

Again, please don’t hesitate to message us at workshops@bellingcat.com if you have any questions.

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