In-person meetings at the beginning of a cross-border investigation are a standard among journalists in the field. The purpose of these meetings is for team members to get to know each other and for each team to develop a work plan for the research. This work plan allows them to start working on the story once they return to each their university. For our students, we crafted a programme which allowed them to get to know each other, get guidance and develop their work plan, but also built in introductions to the EU institutions and Brussels actors.

In the first pilot year, we offered a tightly packed agenda of 4 days – leaving little time to work on the projects and to socialise (see programme 1st pilot year). In the second pilot year, we offered 5 days with fewer agenda points and more time to develop their work plans (see programme 2nd pilot year).

Our ideal agenda could look like this:

Day 1 – Monday
Morning: arrival and getting to know each other
Afternoon: first story presentation round
Day 2 – Tuesday
Visit to an EU institution including meetings with officials, MEPs, interest representatives
Possibly a “lobby walk” through Brussels to get an impression of the various interest representations
Day 3 – Wednesday
Editor(s) from partner media joins, talk about their take on the shared topic
Pitching round with comments from the editor
The teams work on their stories under guidance of lecturers
Day 4 – Thursday
Inspirational talk by senior journalist in the field
The teams work on their stories under guidance of lecturers and senior journalist guest
Late afternoon/evening: Gathering on Place de Luxembourg for socialising
Day 5 – Friday
Final team work
Presentation of pitches
Summing up by lecturers on the forthcoming work process
Afternoon: Travel home