Ruben Brugnera is an independent investigative journalist, based in Brussels.

His mission is to break important stories that are likely to be dismissed by day-to-day reporting and to make them accessible to a broad audience. His key interests lie in political-economic issues (corporate lobbying, regulation of technologies, health), the environment, the European Union, structural injustice and social exclusion.

Ruben enjoys engaging in cross-border investigations that at the same time have a strong local or national relevance. He holds a degree in political science and economics at KU Leuven and took part in Journalismfund’s IRJ training programme.

Basic information

Name
Ruben Brugnera
Title
Investigative reporter
Expertise
lobbying, regulation of technologies, health, environment, EU, injustice, social exclusion
Country
Belgium
City
Brussels
Twitter
Website

Supported projects

Self-service at Action Damien

  • Corruption

BRUSSELS - Experienced staff are being fired, volunteers are dropping out and losses are piling up. Meanwhile, external consultants earn up to €20,000 a month. What is going on at Action Damien?

The question of 14 million: where is Poverello's money?

  • Corruption
  • Finance
  • Human Rights

BRUSSELS - Journalists at KNACK, LeVif and RTBF have joined forces to investigate the peculiar financial management of the non-profit organisation Poverello. They greedily buy real estate that often remains empty. The organisation appears to be very rich, but hardly ever uses its money for working with the poor.

The slavery of care: Bulgarian women working in the West as caregivers

  • Healthcare
  • Organised crime
  • Work

SOFIA - The story focuses on the plight of cash-strapped Bulgarian women who come to Belgium and the Netherlands as posted workers to care for elderly people who want to spend the last months or years of their life in their own home, instead of in a retirement home. The investigation focuses on one of the main players on the market offering such services, Seniorcare24.