Constructive Fellows 2017 – 2018 - Constructive Institute

We are proud to present to you the talented constructive journalism alumni of 2017-2018.

Mathias Friis

Trygfonden Constructive Journalism Fellowship

Fellowship Project

Mathias spent his fellowship year exploring solutions on how news media can cover populist parties and candidates without providing disproportionate airtime and contributing to polarisation.

BIO

He is a graduate from the Danish School of Media and Journalism and has studied American politics at San Francisco State University. His investigative stories air on national television in newscasts and documentaries.

Most recently, he has exposed toxic working conditions in the wind turbine industry, uncovered medical malpractice resulting in patient deaths and revealed how Danish anti-fraud MEP’s have misused EU funds.

Current Role

Mathias Friis is an award-winning investigative journalist at DR News, Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

Gerd Maria May

Jysk Fynske Medier Constructive Journalism Fellowship

Fellowship Project

Gerd spent her year at the Constructive Institute to search for answers on how to create a model for local partnerships based on digitization. She will focus on the possibilities of digitization to create mutual meaningful partnerships locally, based on constructive journalism.

BIO

Gerd Maria May was Head of Editorial Development at Jysk Fynske Medier’s 12 newspapers and websites. She was responsible for establishing Jysk Fynske Mediers’s Journalism Academy, developing and providing courses aiming to align the 500 reporters in the organization with the company strategy to make journalism more relevant to the users.

Current Role

Gerd founded Room of Solutions in 2019 and works with media, start-ups, educational institutions, Folk High Schools and leaders to make the democratic debate more accessible and constructive.

Jacob Fuglsang

Trygfonden Constructive Journalism Fellowship

Fellowship Project

At Politiken Jacob has worked with constructive journalism through the focus on pedagogical development and sharing of new knowledge in the field. It is this knowledge further developed during his fellowship year.

BIO

As a journalist and editor, he has written about education since 1993 and the last 17 years of it at Politiken. Previously, Jacob has been an opinion editor, national editor and member of Politiken’s Executive College. He is the initiator of Politiken’s Educational Prize, which since 2013 has been awarded to teachers to promote learning and respect for teaching. Jacob has a degree in Communications from Roskilde University.

Current Role

Jacob Fuglsang is education editor at the Danish daily newspaper, Politiken. He is specialized in education policy and is responsible of Politikens’ pages and special editions on education.

Nanna Schelde

Trygfonden Constructive Journalism Fellowship

Fellowship Project

As a fellow at the Constructive Institute, Nanna looked to expand and challenge the boundaries of her current journalistic profile in order to become a better and more versatile journalist.

BIO

Nanna has been focusing on in-depth portraits and features about the significant trends of time and life’s big questions. Her great interest is to decode people and convey moods, so readers may become wiser and get a diversified look into a specific human being or general tendency.

Current Role

Nanna Schelde is a journalist on Kristeligt Dagblad’s feature flagship, the Liv & Sjæl (Life & Soul) section of the Danish news paper.

Bruno Ingemann

Trygfonden Constructive Journalism Fellowship

Fellowship Project

Bruno’s goal was to investigate whether constructive journalism can help restore public confidence in the media and journalism. Having worked as an investigative reporter for many years, he looked for ways to reconcile investigative journalism with constructive journalism, two approaches that can both benefit journalism.

BIO

He has a BA degree in Journalism from the Danish School of Media and Journalism and Masters in Editorial Management from the University of Southern Denmark, SDU.

Current Role

Bruno Ingemann works as editor in charge of business journalism at Jysk Fynske Medier, the Danish group of local and regional media.

Sabrina Uldbæk Skjødt

Trygfonden Constructive Journalism Fellowship

Fellowship Project

Sabrina’s main goal during her Constructive Fellowship was to combine constructive journalism with social media and news for young audiences.

BIO

Sabrina has been educated at the Danish School of Media and Journalism where she received a degree in journalism in 2015.

Current Role

Sabrina Uldbæk Skjødt works as a news reporter for Danish Public Broadcaster DR, mainly engaged in conveying news to young media users. She is also the developer and the editor of DR news chatbot.

Become a Fellow

Each year, around 10 media professionals spend an academic year at the Constructive Institute in Aarhus, Denmark, working on an individual project related to constructive journalism.

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