Award-winning Colombian journalist will chair the independent jury of IJ4EU’s Investigation Support Scheme.
María Teresa Ronderos, a renowned investigative journalist and champion of cross-border collaboration, will serve as chair of the independent jury selecting projects for funding under the IJ4EU fund’s flagship Investigation Support Scheme.
Ronderos, a Colombian reporter, editor and media leader with more than three decades of experience in investigative journalism, is co-founder and director of the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP), a newsroom that coordinates collaborative investigations across the region.
As jury chair, she will lead a panel of four other experienced journalists responsible for choosing investigative projects to receive grants of up to €50,000 under the larger of IJ4EU’s two funding programmes during the 2026/27 funding cycle.
“I am honoured and excited about chairing this amazing group of jurors,” Ronderos said. “It will certainly be inspiring to learn about what European journalists are investigating.”
Ronderos succeeds a distinguished line of award-winning investigative journalists who have chaired the Investigation Support Scheme jury.
Previous chairs include Carlos Dada, co-founder of Central American news outlet El Faro; Nataliya Gumenyuk, chief executive of the Public Interest Journalism Lab in Ukraine; Mexican journalist and author Lydia Cacho; and Wolfgang Krach, editor-in-chief of Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“María Teresa Ronderos is a pioneer of collaborative investigative journalism and a passionate advocate for the public-interest role of reporting,” said Timothy Large, director of independent media programmes at the International Press Institute (IPI), which leads the consortium that runs the IJ4EU fund.
“Her experience leading cross-border investigations and supporting independent journalism around the world makes her an ideal person to chair our jury.”
Safeguarding editorial independence
Independence is a central pillar of the IJ4EU funding model. Donors to the fund are not permitted to influence the selection of projects, and the IJ4EU project partners — IPI, the European Journalism Centre and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom — are committed to protecting the editorial independence of grantees.
Managed by IPI, the Investigation Support Scheme will disburse €1.2 million in grants during the 2026/27 funding round, with two open calls for proposals.
A parallel grant scheme run by the European Journalism Centre is open to teams predominantly composed of freelancers. The Freelancer Support Scheme has a separate jury.
Both schemes are open for applications. The deadline for the current call is April 13.
Born in Bogotá, Ronderos began her journalism career in Buenos Aires in 1983, covering Argentina’s transition from military dictatorship to democracy.
She later held senior editorial positions at several Colombian media outlets and became the first woman to serve as political editor of the newspaper El Tiempo.
Ronderos went on to serve as managing editor of the Colombian news magazine Semana and later founded VerdadAbierta.com, a pioneering investigative journalism platform that documented Colombia’s armed conflict and paramilitary groups.
Beyond her newsroom work, Ronderos has played a prominent role in supporting investigative journalism globally. She previously directed the Program on Independent Journalism at the Open Society Foundations, where she worked to strengthen independent media and investigative reporting worldwide.
In 2019, she co-founded CLIP, which coordinates collaborative investigations involving journalists and media organisations across Latin America. Since its launch, the network has brought together dozens of newsrooms to investigate cross-border issues, including migration, disinformation, corruption and environmental damage.
Ronderos has also contributed to global collaborative reporting initiatives as a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, participating in major projects including the Pandora Papers.
Her work has been recognised with numerous international awards, including the Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University and the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Prize.
Through her reporting, leadership and advocacy, Ronderos has played a key role in strengthening investigative journalism and collaborative reporting across the Americas and beyond.