2026 Bertha
Challenge Fellows
Aaron Walawalkar
Location: United Kingdom
Host Organization: Liberty Investigates
Aaron Walawalkar is a reporter at Liberty Investigates, part of the UK human rights organization Liberty. Since May 2024, he has led an investigation into the repression of pro-Palestine student activism on UK campuses. His reporting has exposed cases of universities calling the police on non-violent protests, resulting in clashes and students being convicted of aggravated trespass. Other findings include revealing how one in four UK universities have launched disciplinary investigations into pro-Gaza activists, and how universities have offered to monitor student protesters on behalf of weapons firms. This work was shortlisted for the prestigious Paul Foot Award 2025.
Aaron will investigate the systemic conditions driving this worsening crackdown. This project will culminate in the creation of a website containing an interactive map displaying all evidence of repression driven by private firms, along with resources to empower those affected and other changemakers to stand up for their protest rights.
Universities are meant to be places where young people explore and express ideas and opinions. Instead they are putting in danger the capacity of an entire generation to speak up. I will investigate the systemic conditions at the heart of this concerning trend.
Ala Qandil
Location: Poland
Ala Qandil is a Polish-Palestinian reporter, social justice activist and humanitarian practitioner. She has over a decade of experience working on stories of resilience and resistance across Occupied Palestine, Greece, the Balkan migration route, the Turkish-Syrian border and the Polish-Belarusian border. Her work focuses on human rights, displacement, seeking justice and empowering marginalized communities. As the founder of Polish-Palestinian Justice Initiative KAKTUS, she leads strategy, research and advocacy, supporting litigation and documenting rights violations against the Palestinian people. A long-time journalist published in leading Polish and international media, Ala is also a documentary co-director whose award-winning storytelling has informed public debate and advanced accountability efforts for Gaza.
Ala will focus on advancing justice for survivors of the Gaza genocide and challenging the complicity of the Polish arms industry in crimes against Palestinians. Her work will include supporting litigation, expanding survivor participation and publishing a case study outlining legal strategies strengthening democratic accountability and confronting rising militarism in Poland.
I can’t wait to meet other Fellows and learn from them, exchange ideas and strategies on how we can tackle this enormous challenge presented by the governments’ and corporations’ collusion in their assault on human rights and democracy. But I’m also excited about having the sense of security, support of an investigative organisation and headspace to deepen my research, conduct interviews, and write with intention.
Emmanuel Mutaizibwa
Location: Uganda
Host Organization: East Africa Center for Investigative Reporting
Emmanuel Mutaizibwa is a journalist and lawyer by profession whose work straddles journalism and legal research. He has previously worked as the Politics and Investigations Editor at Nation Media Group in Uganda where he extensively reported stories on the Great Lakes region. He is currently the managing editor at the East Africa Centre for Investigative Reporting, a non-profit media organisation.
His articles and films have appeared in South Africa’s Sunday Times, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, Zam Magazine, The Guardian newspaper, Al-Jazeera Television, Vice Media Group, TRT World, among others.
I am deeply passionate about this unique opportunity that fosters collaboration aimed at creating solutions that will transform communities, upholding the ethos of equity and fairness.
Gaia Caramazza
Location: United States of America
Host Organization: Watermelon Pictures
Gaia Caramazza is an award-winning filmmaker and journalist who reports stories of politics, identity and resistance. She was inspired to become a reporter growing up in Tunisia during the Arab Spring and is currently based between Rome and New York City. Her work appeared across print, audio and TV in The Guardian, Al Jazeera English and the BBC World Service. A graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and a Pulitzer Center reporting fellow, Gaia is committed to making films challenging dominant narratives with nuance and empathy.
Gaia will complete her documentary examining how student journalists at Columbia University in New York City challenged mainstream media narratives surrounding the 2024 student protests against the genocide in Gaza. Filmed over months of on-the-ground reporting, the project captures a rare inside look at the encampment through the eyes of young reporters who refuse to let their stories be distorted. Her work will bring this urgent story to wider audiences at a pivotal moment for press freedom and shrinking democratic rights.
I am excited to finally complete the film I have devoted the past two years to and to immerse myself in a community of Fellows coming from different disciplines. I look forward to exchanging ideas, building collaborations and sharpening my creative and journalistic practice.
Giacomo Zandonini
Location: Italy
Host Organization: Statewatch
Giacomo Zandonini is a Rome-based investigative journalist reporting on how European policies shape communities and civil liberties. Over the past five years, his investigations have helped expose key aspects of the EU’s expanding surveillance apparatus. He combines diverse methodologies to craft narrative long-form stories and features published by major media outlets across Europe and beyond. He is also a co-founder of Fada Collective, an Italian nonprofit advancing public-interest journalism.
Giacomo will conduct in-depth research into how surveillance technologies affect the right to protest and, more broadly, fundamental rights across the European Union. Grounded in close engagement with affected communities, researchers and civil society organizations, his work will investigate corporate structures, lobbying activities and public procurement processes. By connecting these elements and uncovering new information, the project aims to strengthen public understanding of the forces shaping European surveillance practices. Ultimately, Giacomo’s research seeks to foster accountability, protect civic space and support more informed public participation.
Having a full year to focus deeply on a topic I consider vital for today’s society is a uniquely valuable aspect of this Fellowship. I’m excited to work with a diverse cohort, expanding my knowledge and building stronger alliances that can amplify the impact of our collective work.
Greg Constantine
Location: United States of America / Canada
Host Organization: CENTER
Greg Constantine is an American/Canadian documentary photojournalist, author and visual storyteller. He has dedicated his career to long-term, independent projects that explore themes of human rights, inequality, citizenship, identity, genocide and the power of the state. His award-winning projects include: Nowhere People, Exiled To Nowhere: Burma’s Rohingya, Kenya’s Nubians and Ek Khaale: Once Upon A Time. He is the author of three photography books and exhibited his work in over forty cities. He has spent years documenting the use of immigration detention in several countries around the world for his project “Seven Doors”.
Greg will expand his work documenting the scale and scope of the US immigration detention system. His work will investigate and visualize the entangled relationship between detention, policy and the economic interests of local governments and profit-driven corporate America and how it impacts individuals, families and communities across the country.
How is the expansion and very existence of immigration detention a reflection on the United States as a society? I’ve been committed to stories that attempt to translate and expose systems of injustice. It is necessary to explore new and nuanced visual approaches that challenge narratives and elevate the experiences of those impacted by these policies.
Judith Nansubuga
Location: Uganda
Judith Nansubuga is a dedicated human rights and environmental justice advocate. Since qualifying as a lawyer, she has applied her legal expertise and experience working with communities. She is passionate about inspiring youth engagement and equipping marginalized groups with tools to defend their rights and environment, driving meaningful change from the local to the international level.
Judith will implement a legal program in Busia's Mawero community to support residents to address human rights and environmental issues. She will establish a clear complaint management strategy for local grievance committees to address their concerns about the Wagagai Gold Mining Company. She will document human rights and environmental issues, leveraging partnerships and the media to amplify affected communities’ voices. A core part of her work will be creating a legal toolkit, giving residents the knowledge and procedures to effectively seek remedies for violations and degradation.
To implement my legal empowerment project and equipping the community to hold a mining company accountable, deepening my own environmental justice expertise and building a powerful network of fellow change-makers, is key for me.
Menna Hijazi
Location: United Kingdom
Host Organization: Basement Films
Menna Hijazi is a Palestinian investigative journalist, filmmaker and legal researcher from Gaza, now based in the UK. She specializes in the intersection of international law, human rights and storytelling that serves the public interest. Her background is in law, political science and communications across Palestine, the US and the UK. She’s contributed to investigations with the BBC, Channel 4 and worked alongside organizations including ICJP, UN and EU-funded programs. Her work centers on accountability in conflict, civilian protection and ensuring people are heard.
During her Fellowship year, Menna will investigate how UK public and private sectors impact civilian populations in conflict zones. She’ll combine legal research, investigative filmmaking and policy analysis to create evidence-based work that can inform both advocacy efforts and public understanding. The project aims to push for greater transparency and accountability where it matters most. She will sharpen her investigative practice and build meaningful cross-sector partnerships.
I’m most excited about having the time and support to pursue questions I’ve carried for years, exploring them rigorously. I’m looking forward to building work together with other Fellows that could shift how we understand complicity and responsibility in conflict.
Noel Mdoe
Location: Tanzania
Host Organization: Centre for Strategic Litigation
Noel James Mdoe is an environmental lawyer from Tanzania with a deep commitment to climate justice and community lawyering. An alumnus of the inaugural African Climate Legal Fellowship Programme, he is the Climate Justice Lead at the Center for Strategic Litigation, where he does research, advocacy and strategic litigation including working on the high profile case against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. His work centers on defending community land rights, strengthening consent standards and building legal strategies linking grassroots realities to regional and international accountability spaces.
Noel will investigate and decode Tanzania’s fast expanding carbon offset frontier. Working with grassroots partners and affected communities, he will document how carbon contracts reshape land tenure, consent and livelihoods. He will produce legal research and model pleadings to support strategic litigation on fairer, rights-based climate governance. His project will track legal architectures, consent practices, benefit sharing and the policing of dissent and follow the chain of carbon credits exposing who profits and how. His aim is to turn opaque deals into actionable public evidence for communities.
Joining a global cohort that investigates how power, politics and profit shape injustice, is what I'm looking forward to. The Fellowship's focus on deep inquiry, storytelling and movement solidarity will strengthen my ability to expose harmful carbon deals, elevate community voices and turn evidence into meaningful systemic change.
Rhiannon Mihranian Osborne
Location: United Kingdom
Host Organization: Medact
Rhiannon Mihranian Osborne is a medical doctor, community organizer, writer and researcher focused on corporate violence and environmental justice. She uses health as a lens to expose the violence of capitalism, to build movements and to create spaces for collective care. Internationally she works closely with communities impacted by extractive industries such as oil, gas and mining. In the UK, she organizes with health workers to fight against border violence and genocide complicity within the National Health Service (NHS).
Rhiannon will investigate and organize against strategic corporate targets within the NHS, whose operations expand surveillance, privatization and occupation. She will expose collusion between corporations and the UK government and build community and worker power to resist big tech in our public services. Her work also aims to expose the violent reality of surveillance, AI warfare and targeting in Palestine and the ‘imperial boomerang’ of this technology.
Having the support, time and skills to support movement building, in the UK and internationally, is most exciting. Our grassroots power is much stronger than big tech wants us to believe and through radical, organized and investigative activism we can prevent the expansion of surveillance and disrupt the economy of genocide.
Rich Felgate
Location: United Kingdom
Host Organization: Passion Pictures
Rich Felgate is a documentary filmmaker based in London, who first picked up a camera as a climate activist to document an insider's view of the frontlines of environmental resistance. His debut feature doc, FINITE, tells the story of communities in the UK and Germany halting the expansion of opencast coal mines. FINITE screened at festivals around the world (Leeds, DokuFest, DocEdge, FIPADOC), received multiple awards and has been broadcast by a variety of international public service broadcasters.
Rich is currently in production on a new feature documentary following the climate activist group Just Stop Oil and the repression of protest in the UK. During the next year, Rich will be working with Passion Pictures to complete the film and launch an impact campaign, with the goal of using the film to ignite public conversation and support grassroots activism on the erosion of civil liberties amid the escalating climate crisis.
Completing a project which has been over three years in the making already and learning from other Fellows working on similar issues, is most thrilling.
Rosita Rijtano
Location: Italy
Host Organization: Wired Italy
Rosita Rijtano is an award-winning Italian journalist exploring the intersections of technology, organized crime and social justice. Her work has appeared in leading outlets such as Wired, OCCRP, L’Espresso, La Repubblica and Al Jazeera. She co-authored several books, including ‘Insubordinati’ (Edizioni Gruppo Abele), a year-long investigation into riders and the algorithms managing their work, recognized by Oxfam in 2023. She has worked as a freelance reporter, editor and editor-in-chief in multiple newsrooms. Beyond journalism, she collaborates with activists and civil society organizations to build safer digital ecosystems, develop secure whistleblowing platforms and guides to help journalists counter digital threats.
As a Bertha Challenge Fellow, she will investigate Italy’s investigative and surveillance practices to assess their impact on civil liberties.
I’m thrilled to have the chance to go beyond the investigation — to share what I discover and learn with other journalists, citizens and activists. I want to be a resource instead of a resource-seeker, helping others strengthen their ability to protect themselves from digital threats and defend civil liberties.
Yuna Chang
Location: United Kingdom
Host Organization: Movement Research Unit
Yuna Chang is a South Korean activist and researcher based in London, UK. She specializes in investigating corporate power and its role in fuelling the major crises of our times. Her previous work includes research on corporate lobbying on climate policy, data projects on extreme heat and climate disasters across global cities and writing on intergenerational resistance to state and corporate abuses of power. Her research and writing have been featured in CNN, BBC, Politico, The Economist and Skin Deep.
Yuna will investigate the expanding infrastructure around surveillance of social movements in the UK; mapping the state and corporate actors involved and the networks of power and profit that keep these systems afloat. Her work will support communities to not only document and track the crackdown on their democratic rights to protest, but also to archive and connect their strategies of resistance.
My research services movements pushing for our collective liberation. Social movements in the UK today face unprecedented challenges to their ability to organize. I’m dedicated to conducting research that exposes and counters the architectures of this repression.
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