Meet the journalists reporting for the Access to Energy Journalism Fellowship

In the Fall of 2015, we put out a global call for applications for the Access to Energy Journalism Fellowship, a collaborative journalism project with the Waterloo Global Science Initiative that investigates the drivers of energy poverty around the world and potential solutions.

We were looking for journalists eager to report on how different countries are grappling with energy poverty and the ability to produce stories deeply rooted in people’s lived experiences. Our aim is to contribute nuanced reporting to the discourse on energy poverty and provide a marquee hub for connecting related systemic issues like climate change and global development.

After pouring over applications from all corners of the planet, we’re very excited to announce our final selection of fellows. Stay tuned for their stories, coming in April 2016. For more information, get in touch at [email protected]. 

Fabíola Ortiz dos Santos, Mexico, Inter Press Service

Fabíola Ortiz dos Santo is a Brazilian freelance independent journalist reporting in Portuguese, Spanish and English about human rights, international affairs and sustainable development. She has contributed to the Inter Press Service, IDN InDepthNews.info, SciDev.Net, Portuguese news agency LUSA, and the Brazilian environmental website O ECO. Ms Ortiz was a contributor to the 2014 book “Until the Rulers Obey: Voices from Latin American Social Movements” edited by Marcy Rein and Clifton Ross (Ross (2014, PM Press).

Mike Ives, Kiribati, SciDev

Mike Ives is a Vietnam-based journalist and a frequent contributor to The Economist and The New York Times. He also covers science and the environment for SciDev.Net, Yale Environment 360 and other websites and magazines.

Andrew Mambondiyani, Zimbabwe, The Zimbabwean

Andrew Mambondiyani is an award winning journalist based in Zimbabwe. Between 2010 and 2011 he served as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at Massachusetts institute of Technology (USA) and in 2008 he was a Middlebury Environment Journalism Fellow in USA. His journalism work has appeared in various media organizations including Thomson Reuters Foundation (UK), BBC (UK), Yale E360 (USA), Think Africa Press (UK), SciDev.net (UK),Centrepoint Now (USA) and Opendemocracy.net (UK), The Zimbabwean (Zimbabwe) among others. He has a special interest in climate change, agriculture, sustainable development and the environment in general.

Faisal Mahmud, Bangladesh, The Independent

Faisal Mahmud has over five years of reporting experience for two national English dailies in Bangladesh. He works for The Independent, one of the oldest and most respected national English daily of Bangladesh. He specializes in reporting on energy and power, especially issues related with renewable energy. He also writes for energynewsbd.com, a specialized news website on energy and power news.

Felix Gaedtke, Romania, Al Jazeera

Felix Gaedtke is a multimedia journalist interested in under-reported regions and untold stories – focusing on environment, conflict, human rights, political and social issues. He contributes to Al Jazeera English, Deutsche Welle, Radio Netherlands Worldwide and other international outlets. He has reported from over 25 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the Americas. He is an Erasmus Mundus scholar with a specialism in war and conflict reporting.

Elias Ntungwe Ngalame, Cameroon, Thompson Reuters Foundation

Elias Ntungwe Ngalame is a multiple award-winning Cameroon-based freelance writer for the Thomson Reuters Foundation with an interest in climate change, the environment and development and governance issues. He heads the Yaounde office of Eden Media, which runs a bi-weekly publication, Eden Newspaper, a quarterly magazine, Edenxtra, and a community radio FM 98.1. He is also  PAMACC (Pan African Media Alliance for Climate Change) coordinator for Central African region. PAMACC is the network of African journalists reporting on climate change and related development issues.

Deepak Adhikari, Nepal, Republica English Daily

Deepak Adhikari is a Kathmandu-based freelance journalist. In a career spanning over a decade and half, he has covered socio-political issues of Nepal including human rights, environment, hydropower, tourism, and trafficking and geopolitics. His work has appeared in Time magazine, The Caravan magazine, Himal Southasian magazine, Al Jazeera English, Nikkei Asian Review magazine, among others. From November 2010 to February 2014, he served as Nepal correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP), the global news agency. Prior to joining AFP, he worked for Kantipur, Nepal’s largest-selling newspaper as a reporter and editor. 

Christopher Pollon, Canada, The Tyee

Christopher Pollon is an established Vancouver-based independent journalist covering business and the politics of natural resources, with a focus on energy, mines and oceans.  Christopher‘s writing has appeared in The Walrus, Reader’s Digest, The Globe and Mail, National Geographic Books, and many more.  His stories and reporting have been picked up by the LA Times, CBC Marketplace, CBC Radio, Alternet and National Public Radio.  Chris has been a feature writer and Contributing Editor at The Tyee since 2007.

Eric Bombicino, Canada, TVO

Eric Bombicino has been producing at TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin since 2011. His work appears weekly on the broadcast and he has produced interviews with guests such as Jeremy Rifkin, Richard Dawkins and Ben Bernanke. Eric has also been published numerous times at tvo.org, covering topics such as Finland’s renowned education system and Canada’s complicated history with refugees.