I am a freelance journalist and writer based in Valencia, in Spain, focusing on feature writing and investigative journalism, mainly about Europe. As of October 2026, I am participating in and planning science-based collaborative investigations into climate adaptation, corporate influence on public affairs, and algorithmic / AI accountability. I also research and experiment with creative formats to disseminate the results of journalistic investigations, and I’m developing a methodological guide that I call Follow the Governance. Besides that, I give talks and organise and run workshops and masterclasses on collaborative and investigative journalism. Last year, I was part of the Forever Lobbying Project, a multi-award winning cross-border investigation into the corporate campaign to water down a proposal to restrict PFAS chemicals in the EU, and I worked on the organisation of the Dataharvest 2025 conference, a reference annual event for cross-border, data and investigative journalism in Europe.
From March 2019 to June 2022, I worked with Arena for Journalism in Europe, a non-profit foundation promoting cross-border collaborative journalism, which also organises Dataharvest. At Arena, I led the development of the Arena Housing Project, an open collaborative network for journalists and researchers working on housing. As part of that work, I was the co-initiator and coordinator of the cross-border project Cities for Rent: Investigating Corporate Landlords Across Europe, which in 2022 won the European Press Prize Innovation Award.
In the last years, I’ve also worked with AlgorithmWatch and Eticas Foundation, organisations that research the use of algorithmic systems that affect public life, and Tactical Tech, which investigates how digital technologies impact society and individual autonomy. And in 2017 and 2018 I worked on a journalistic project about citizen political activism, democracy and human rights in Europe thanks to an Open Society Fellowship.
Before moving to Valencia, I was successively based in London, Nairobi, Istanbul, Barcelona and Berlin. I have reported from more than 20 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East; and my work has appeared in Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, El País, elDiario.es, Le Monde, New Statesman, The Independent, Internazionale, Deutsche Welle, Radio France Internationale, GlobalPost, Folha de Sao Paulo, El Universal, Agence France-Presse, Information and Expresso, among others.
In 2012, my feature ‘A la horca con 14 años’ (‘To the Gallows at 14’), published by El País and about a child sentenced to death in South Sudan, won the Dario D’Angelo Award, given by the Marco Luchetta Foundation.
During 2015 I took a break from journalism and worked as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer for Doctors Without Borders in the South Kivu province of the DR Congo.
Email: contact @ josemcalatayud . net / Public PGP key
More information in my LinkedIn profile.
This webpage was last updated in October 2026.