Supported projects

COBQUECURA - 4.3 babies are born every second in the world. For a woman, childbirth is one of the most profound physical and emotional events in her life. Yet childbirth, like the female body in general, remains undervalued and under-researched.

ANTWERPEN - Valère, Veerle Duflou's partner, chose to donate his body to science. Ten years after his death, Veerle wants to know what happens to those bodies. She goes to the Antwerp University anatomy lab and follows the people to whom these bodies end up.

LARISSA / JAÉN / VASLUI - Farmers are already under immense pressure due to economic strains compounded by stringent EU regulations. Now, the intensifying impacts of climate change are exacerbating these challenges, leading to insomnia, anxiety, and depression among farmers.

LONDON - The four largest tobacco companies have invested billions of dollars into companies that produce medicines or medical products.

LONDON – What is the connection between widespread sales of nicotine vapes in Nigeria, the use of vapes by teenagers in the UK, and the pollution caused by vape pods and cartridges in Burkina Faso? And what does it all have to do with the regulations on vapes by the European Commission? Read more in ...

KABWE – More than four decades after the news broke about the illness caused by lead poisoning in Kabwe, Zambia, journalists dig deep to learn how victims' lives have changed since the World Bank provided $65 million in assistance to the Zambian government.

BRUSSELS - First and foremost, Under the Surface is a portrait of Anneke, a young woman of 33 with ASD who wants to live an independent life and escapes into a fantasy world.

FORT-DE-FRANCE / BASSE TERRE – This investigation goes behind the scenes of a French state scandal, tracing a historical route from governmental actors who approved use of chlordecone, a dangerous chemical, in agriculture, to the realities of victims speaking out today. Their testimonies highlight ...

BRUSSELS – Asbestos is now banned in 69 countries, but it is still found in our drinking water. Water pipes are made of asbestos cement release fibres that can be lethal when inhaled. Experts have warned about this problem for decades, but the issue persists. 

BERLIN / NAIROBI - Why and how dangerous pesticide products produced in the EU, and Germany in particular, are continued to be sold in other countries? The investigation looks at how agrochemical companies try to maintain an unregulated pesticide market, despite tightening regulations in Europe. 

TOKIO - In Japan, when people disappear overnight because of social pressure, financial, domestic or mental problems, they call it jōhatsu. Literally, it means evaporation. This phenomenon is not recognised in Japan, so it remains under the radar. Robbe Van der Vloet and Arend Bucher travelled to ...

Pelvic pain is an umbrella term for pain in the tailbone, hips, buttock region, joints around the sacrum and pubic bone, but also embraces pain and discomfort in the vagina, vulva, perineum, uterus, ovaries, bladder, bowels and pelvic floor muscles.

ALIAĞA – Asbestos, that is especially hard to track in ships, often causes lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis. The team investigated several shipbreaking yards, including Kılıçlar in Turkey, where workers are exposed to the deadly substance without adequate protection. 

KIEV - Foreign journalists report plenty about the war in Ukraine, and that is dangerous enough. But they're helped by local journalists, "fixers," and they can't just avoid the situation in their country. What does that nonstop work do to these people?

ANTWERPEN - Of course you already know that ultra-processed food is not the healthiest choice. Yet you probably eat it far more often than you think (yes, even that healthy-looking jar of humus is ultra-processed), and that may be becoming a problem. After all, scientific research is increasingly ...

EL CERREJÓN — Glencore, the world's largest mining company, has a long story of corruption, human rights violation and environmental damage. This investigation looks at the scale of  the environmental disaster that Glencore's mine in Colombia causes for the local area.

BRUSSELS - Twenty years ago, the first SARS outbreak sounded the alarm. But Europe failed to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic due to a lack of funding for drug research, and may still be unprepared for the next one, argue several prominent scientists interviewed by Stefano Valentino and Gian Paolo ...

BRUSSELS - How do you get declared insanity in Belgium? Journalist Thomas Detombe looked into it and came across serious shortcomings. The decision is made by the judge, who bases it on a psychiatric expert's report. A psychiatrist draws up the report; the judge almost always follows it.

BRUSSELS - Forced sterilisation of women with disabilities is criminalised in only nine EU countries. This investigation in Spain, France, Hungary and Sweden proves that the eugenics-based practice is still going on in Europe at a time when the European Parliament is debating its outlawing.  

BELGIUM - The mythical wolf is back in Belgium. So are the eagle owl and the raven. The seal and the beaver. The tropical tree frog. Even the mysterious lynx. And who knows, soon the iconic brown bear? The list is impressive.

KYIV - Surrogacy is a growing business worldwide. 

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?

COPENHAGEN - By 2050, the earth will have 10 billion inhabitants. At the same time, the area of available agricultural land per person is shrinking. As climate disrupts, classical farming systems are colliding with their limits.

BELGRADE / TIRANA – Two articles, one story – noise pollution in Western Balkans. Although constantly underestimated, this pollution is disturbing citizens of the region’s capitals on a daily basis. Unfortunately, noise has become a habit, which is precisely what should not happen.

GHENT - At 16, Sofie developed symptoms of what later turned out to be anxiety and depressive disorder. On social media, it seems like every young person struggles with it. Wouldn't it be nice to start a club? Based on her own experiences, Sofie Steenhaut talks to club members and experts. Welcome ...

BRUSSELS - Asbestos is more lethal than previously known. New figures, recognised by the EU institutions, show that 70,000-90,000 Europeans die each year of asbestos related cancer.

KABWE - One of the largest lead mines in the world closes in 1994. Local people in Kabwe, a metropolis in Zambia, see jobs disappear. They are left uninvited with a mountain of harmful mining waste and residential areas polluted by lead.

LELESTI - For years they inhaled it. Former workers of the asbestos-cement factories in Romania worked without any protection against the toxic dust. Except a milk ratio. It was supposed to protect against cancer and toxicity, or so they believed during communism. Long privatized and shut down, the ...

BWINDI - The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda has been chosen by the US National Health Institute (NHI) as a ‘hotspot’ for a potential new outbreak of a zoonotic disease like Monkeypox, Covid or Ebola.

BRUSSELS - After a delay of more than six months, the GATE drug consumption room opened its doors in the Belgian capital on 5 May 2022. Can this project succeed in Brussels and can this harm prevention tool be developed in other cities in Belgium, Europe and in Flanders?