Bring IRE training to your city

IRE is seeking universities and news organizations interested in hosting an IRE Watchdog Workshop or data boot camp beginning this fall.

Through a typical partnership, the local host organization receives a number of free passes to the workshop or boot camp in exchange for providing space at no cost to IRE. The arrangement helps keep registration rates affordable for journalists, students and educators. IRE is accepting submissions via this short online form. IRE considers geographic diversity and other factors in making final selections of hosts.

IRE handles all facets of the programming, including setting a schedule and lining up speakers. Local hosts, if interested, may help with suggestions for speakers but are not expected to work on programming.

"We want to make this as easy as possible for our hosts," IRE Executive Director Doug Haddix said. "We're grateful for universities and newsrooms that provide venues for high-quality watchdog training."

Beginning in September, IRE will present another round of 10 Watchdog Workshops around the country, based on generous funding from Excellence and Ethics in Journalism. Typically, the full-day workshops take place in a meeting space that accommodates at least 100 people. The workshops also feature an optional half-day of hands-on data training, typically in a computer lab.

In addition, IRE is holding a series of workshops around the country focused on improving local TV watchdog reporting, thanks to financial support from Knight Foundation. These TV Watchdog Workshops typically take place in a space that can accommodate at least 100 attendees.

This fall, IRE also plans to host intensive data boot camps, which require a computer lab with at least 20 seats. The multi-day immersive boot camps in the fundamentals of CAR, Python and reporting with R receive support from the Park Foundation.

If you have questions about hosting an IRE training event, please contact training@ire.org and a staff member will connect with you.