JULIANA RUHFUS

I am an award-winning filmmaker, investigative journalist and executive producer who has also led the work of the Dart Centre for Journalism Trauma (Europe). I am now working as a freelance media consultant, trainer and mentor, often with a specific focus on trauma-informed media production and investigative journalism. 

 

As a filmmaker and journalist I am probably best known as the senior reporter for Al Jazeera English's which I joined as part of the launch team in 2006 after having started my career as a freelancer for Channel 4's Unreported World, the BBC, WDR, RTL and NHK .  Once at Al Jazeera I went on to report and produce over 50 films in nearly as many countries for People & Power investigative and current affairs strand, including some of the show’s highest-rating and award-winning episodes often from places of conflict and crisis. After leaving the channel in 2021 I joined BBC Worldservice Eye Investigations as an executive producer tasked with setting up a unit in India.

 

In July 2022 I took over as the European director of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma (DCE), a relationship that had started in 2010 after receiving the Ochberg Fellowship and a scholarship for Harvard's Global Trauma Programme a year later. As DCE's director I grew the range and reach of Dart Centre's training offer and worked with some of Europe's leading broadcasters, investigative newsroom and TV production companies.  I initiated and led projects including a retreat for climate reporters, a peer support helpline for journalists in Germany, and I continue to provide training with a focus on trauma-informed storytelling. 

 

I thrive on creative storytelling.  To give audiences a deeper insight into the investigative process I created and produced the multi-award winning "Pirate Fishing - Interactive Investigation" and “Hacked” digital journalism projects. In 2017 I successfully applied for Google DNI funding to develop an open source chat-based storytelling tool and in 2022 received funding to write a fictional TV series about the environmental movement in Germany, an ongoing project.

 

Outside journalism I have served as a consultant to the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee consultant tasked with investigating breaches of the arms embargo on Somalia. I serve on the board of trustees for the Environmental Justice Foundation, and on the advisory board for eyeWitness to Atrocities, a project of the International Bar Association.