Ides MF Debruyne

Ides Debruyne is co-founder and managing director of Journalismfund Europe, an independent non-profit established in 1998 to stimulate independent investigative journalism in Europe. He has led the organisation since 2001 and has set up most of its grant programmes.

He also co-founded the Dutch-Flemish Association of Investigative Journalists (VVOJ) and founded SciMingo, which promotes science communication in Flanders. In 2013 he and his former colleague Brigitte Alfter received the Prize for the Freedom and Future of Media in Leipzig, Germany.

Journalismfund Europe
Ides set up a wide range of grant programmes, including the award-winning European Cross-border Grants, the Pascal Decroos Fund, Earth Investigations, Journalismfund Local, European Cross-border Local Investigative Journalism, Science Journalism, Modern Slavery Unveiled, Money Trail Grants, the Flemish Emergency Fund, the Flemish Journalism Fund, Flanders Connects Continents, Connecting Continents and Fox Grants.
From 2009 to 2018 he was responsible for organising the European Investigative Journalism Conference / Dataharvest. In 2007, with the support of the Flemish Government, he launched the Wobbing project, which brought together journalists using freedom of information laws and laid the groundwork for a network.
In 2012 he was responsible for the study “Deterrence of fraud with EU funds through investigative journalism in EU-27”, commissioned by the European Parliament. Since 2001 he has travelled and spoken publicly in 25 countries on four continents.

OTHER ORGANISATIONS

VVOJ
In 2002 Ides co-founded the Vereniging van Onderzoeksjournalisten (VVOJ), the Dutch-Flemish association of investigative journalists, and served on its board for eight years (2002–2008 and 2012–2014). As a board member he co-organised the 3rd Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Amsterdam (2005) and the first European Investigative Journalism Conference in Brussels (2008).

He coordinated the VVOJ cafés in Belgium and co-edited the VVOJ yearbook, an overview of notable investigative projects in the Low Countries (2004–2014).

Ides was the co-founder (2002) and for eight years a member of the board of the Vereniging van Onderzoeksjournalisten (VVOJ), the Dutch-Flemish association of investigative reporters. As a board member of VVOJ he co-organised the 3rd Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Amsterdam (2005) and the first European Investigative Journalism Conference in Brussels (2008). He coordinated the VVOJ cafés in Belgium and was co-editor of the VVOJ yearbook that gave an overview of interesting investigative projects. From 2017 to 2022, Ides served on the De Loep jury.

SciMingo vzw
Ides is the founder of SciMingo (formerly Scriptie vzw), a non-profit that promotes science communication in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, and has chaired it since 2005.

Teaching

• 2004-2024: Together with Herman Duponcheel director of studies of the Journalism Department, Ides started the postgraduate programme in investigative journalism (International Research Journalism) at Thomas More in Mechelen, the largest university of applied sciences in Flanders. Journalismfund Europe was responsible for the programme’s content until 2024.
• 2006-2008: Lecturer in Computer-Assisted Reporting (CAR) in the Bachelor of Journalism at Lessius Hogeschool (now Thomas More), Mechelen (10% FTE).
• 2007-2017: Lecturer in basic social media skills and data journalism at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Ghent University (10% FTE).
  or a decade (Ides was affiliated with Ghent University (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences) as a lecturer teaching basic social media skills and data journalism. (10% FTE)