We are excited to wrap up the first edition of the Magmatic School of Environmental Journalism, which was held online from October 2024 to April 2025. The number of high-quality applications we received exceeded expectations. During the program, the nine selected journalists had the chance to enhance their environmental reporting and narrative writing skills while expanding their portfolios.

Participants were introduced to the fundamentals of environmental and narrative journalism, including science journalism, turning sources into compelling characters, international reporting, collaborative journalism and freelancing basics. They also gained insights into the major challenges the Mediterranean is facing due to climate change and learned about Magma's journalistic approach.

At the same time, they had the opportunity to:

    • Receive mentoring and feedback from experienced independent journalists and support in seeking partnerships with other media.
    • Obtain a small travel grant for their reporting.
    • Be published in Magma Magazine (coming soon).
    • Become part of our professional network.

Participants were divided into three small groups based on their interests, with each group assigned to a mentor. Throughout the program, groups received mentoring and editorial guidance while covering pressing environmental issues and solutions in the Mediterranean region, with a particular focus on climate change. By the end, each team had contributed to a digital issue of Magma Magazine. Their work will soon appear on Magma's website, while in many cases has already been published in other media.

(If you are a publication interested in exploring partnerships or collaborations, please reach out to info@magma-mag.net.)

Host Editors and Mentors

Marta Vidal

Marta Vidal is an independent journalist focusing on social and environmental justice across the Mediterranean. Her work has been published in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, the BBC, Foreign Policy, Mongabay, among other publications. In 2023, she won the Gazeta Prize — the most prestigious journalism award in Portugal — and the UNESCO Journalism Award for Human Rights for her work on Palestinian birders. In 2024, her reporting on lithium mining in Portugal was shortlisted for the Fetisov Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism.
Portfolio

Jonathan Moens

Jonathan Moens is an independent journalist based in Rome. He reports on science, global health, climate change, amongst other topics. His work has been published in National Geographic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Undark, and more. In 2022, he won the American Society of Journalists and Authors Awards in the science category, and in 2023, he contributed to a series that won the National Association of Black Journalists award.
Portfolio
Linkedin
X

Ottavia Spaggiari

Ottavia Spaggiari is an award-winning investigative journalist, long-form writer and editor. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The New Yorker, Al Jazeera, The Nation and others. Her long-form piece on human traffickers' impunity in Italy was shortlisted for the 2021 European Press Prize in the "distinguished reporting" category. She currently teaches journalism at the City University of New York.
Portfolio
Linkedin
X

Participants

Group 1 (mentored by Marta Vidal)

They focused on mining and the energy transition.

Nejra Kravić

She is a journalist based in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Scripps College in Claremont, California, and master’s degree in Human Rights through the Global Campus of Human Rights in Italy. She has held a number of competitive editorial fellowships and internships, and was awarded the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics in 2021 and the Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship in 2023. In her spare time, she enjoys looking out windows and traveling.
Resulting stories:
Europe’s lithium rush leaves mineral-rich communities in the dark (Climate Home News)

Bernardo Álvarez-Villar

He is a freelance journalist based in Madrid. He has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and is a student of Geography and History. He writes about the environment, culture, labor and human rights in numerous national and regional media publications in Spain.
Resulting stories:
Europe’s lithium rush leaves mineral-rich communities in the dark (Climate Home News)

Natalie Donback

She is a freelance journalist based in Barcelona where she covers climate change, global health and politics for various international publications. Her work has appeared in Devex, Hyphen, Rest of World, the BBC, Euronews, Context and Economist Impact. She was previously an editor and reporter at Devex, covering aid and the humanitarian sector.
Resulting stories:
Spain's lithium mining bid promises jobs, but for whom? (Context by TRF)
Europe’s lithium rush leaves mineral-rich communities in the dark (Climate Home News)

Group 2 (mentored by Jonathan Moens)

They focused on communities affected by pollution, new laws or climate change.

Dafni Karavola

She is a data journalist and visual investigator based in Athens, Greece, with a background in architectural engineering. She is interested in topics at the intersection of journalism and space. She currently takes part in Reporters United, covering Romani rights, state and corporate accountability, as well as environmental issues using data, cartographic and Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques. She studied architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and research architecture at Goldsmiths University, London, supported by a scholarship from the Eugenides Foundation. Recently, she has specialized in computational journalism and data analysis at Columbia University in New York, thanks to a Stavros Niarchos Foundation fellowship. She loves maps.

Alexander Durie

He is a multimedia journalist, writer and photographer based between Marseille and London. He covers issues at the intersection of human rights and culture in Europe and the MENA region through in-depth reporting and engaging storytelling methods. He works across news and feature writing, multimedia explainers, documentary photography and social media videos. His work has been featured in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Financial Times, CNN, The Economist, Reuters, The Independent, Rolling Stone, ARTE and more. In 2023, his short documentary for The New Arab, "Germany’s Palestine Problem", which investigates Germany's crackdown on Palestine solidarity, was awarded Best Video at the WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Middle East.
Resulting stories:
On Greece's Lesbos, new migrant camp sparks wildfire fears (Context by TRF)
Alexandria is sinking. Why don’t local fishers believe it? (The Guardian)

Goldy Ann Levy

She is the lead producer of Las Cosmos Podcast and Crossing the River. She is the creator of Encuento: Espacio de Escritura Libre (Encuento: Free Writing Space) where she uses her poetry and creative writing background to facilitate an online meetup for writers of all levels. Previously the editor of 070 Podcasts, an independent platform in Colombia. With a background in communication and literature from Emerson College in Boston and a master’s degree in Journalism from the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, her work centers on rights of nature and feminism. Her podcasts have been featured on Cerosetenta and La Liga Contra el Silencio, while her articles have appeared in Pacifista, Sembra Media, La República, La Revista de Costa Rica and Haaretz. Originally from Costa Rica, Goldy now lives in Madrid with her husband and two dogs.
Resulting stories:
On Greece's Lesbos, new migrant camp sparks wildfire fears (Context by TRF)
La lunga strada per garantire i diritti alla natura (Lucy sui mondi)

Group 3 (mentored by Ottavia Spaggiari)

They focused on the intersections of overtourism, climate change and cultural heritage.

Sarah Collins

She is an award-winning editor and columnist at British current-affairs magazine Prospect. She writes long-form features and investigations for Prospect and her freelance writing has appeared in The Guardian, The i paper, Metro, The Telegraph and more. She is based in Athens, Greece, and is pursuing a master’s degree in Media and Migration at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Resulting stories:
How wildlife is falling foul of the demand for Insta-perfect beaches (The Guardian)

Elisa Amouret

She is a French freelance journalist based in Marseille, in southern France. Born and raised in Brittany, she is passionate about all topics related to the sea. Focusing on Mediterranean culture, she has worked in Israel, Lebanon and Cyprus as a video journalist, photographer and reporter. Her work has been published by the French Press Agency (AFP) for various news outlets.
Resulting stories:
How wildlife is falling foul of the demand for Insta-perfect beaches (The Guardian)

Vittoria Torsello

She is a freelance journalist, the co-founder of Marea Media and a member of the FADA Collective. Her work focuses on the climate crisis, energy transition, disinformation and social inequalities within the Mediterranean region. Her stories have been published in Wired Italia, Voxeurop, Público, EUobserver, among others. She has led several cross-border journalism projects supported by Journalismfund, IJ4EU and RAI. In 2023, she was a finalist for the Premio Morrione award for her video reportage, The Gas Propaganda.
Resulting stories:
How wildlife is falling foul of the demand for Insta-perfect beaches (The Guardian)
Supported by
You’ve successfully subscribed to Magma
Welcome back! You’ve successfully signed in.
Great! You’ve successfully signed up.
Your link has expired
Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.