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.
Important Note: Please leave a valid email address where you can receive sign-up confirmations and the event links. 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.
What are the sessions about?
Session 1: Documenting Human Rights Violations and International Crimes Using Open Source Research Methods
With Hadi al Khatib, Mnemonic on the 8th of April 2026 at 14:00 - 15:30 CEST
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: Ocean Datasets for Investigations and Storytelling
With Mae Lubetkin on the 9th April 2026 at 14:00 - 15:30 CEST
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.
Where does the event happen? Online
When does the event happen?
–
Begin:
End:
Add to Calendar