JournalismAI Skills Lab

Africa, Europe and the Americas
Asia-Pacific and the Middle East

FREE · 14 weeks · Virtual · APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED

Going beyond basic prompt engineering

The JournalismAI Skills Lab is a 14-week, free, virtual programme designed for professionals to learn how to practically implement LLMs, GenAI, and agents in their work.

The programme helps individuals upskill in using AI technologies in a hands-on manner. It equips participants to develop their own AI-based tools, prototypes, or proofs-of-concept. The ultimate outcome is to deepen knowledge of building with AI and to enable substantial contributions to interdisciplinary projects within the newsroom.

It is aimed at all individuals who work at the intersection of journalism and technology, including editorial and product staff.

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

How The Programme Works

The Skills Lab is a virtual, live instructor-led programme that runs over 14 weeks. The programme includes two sessions per week, each running for two hours. Participants are expected to dedicate 7 hours per week in total to the programme, including self-paced work.

This year, JournalismAI will run two cohorts of the programme:

  • A cohort of 15 participants from Africa, Europe, and the Americas

  • A cohort of 10 participants from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East

The course commences with product and strategic thinking workshops and coaching by industry leader, Sheena Bhalla, Founder, Module Xero. This is followed by 12 weeks of core instruction on AI technologies that will help you in your journey to develop tools.

Timeline

Instructors

The lead instructors for the Africa, Europe, and the Americas cohort are Jenny Romano and Pedro Henriques from thenewsroom.ai. The lead instructor for the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East cohort is Swapneel Mehta, co-founder, SimPPL. Read more about the instructors below.

Pedro Henriques

Pedro Henriques is Co-founder and CTO of The Newsroom, leading work on Responsible and Explainable AI for Journalism, supported by Google.org, Horizon Europe, and others. Formerly a team lead for LinkedIn’s global Data Science and AI team, he blends strong academic credentials (University of Porto, HEC Paris, CEMS) with hands-on data and AI expertise. As an AI educator he has trained over 500 media professionals across Europe. His work developing AI for journalism earned recognition among Europe's top 15 Social Entrepreneurs by EIB.

Jenny Romano

Jenny Romano is Co-founder and CEO of The Newsroom, developing AI for journalism and information provenance with backing by Google.org/Inco and Horizon Europe. With a background at Google and Salesforce, and education from Bocconi, HEC Paris, and CEMS, she combines tech and business expertise. An AI educator in journalism, she’s been named one of the 33 Most Influential Women in AI, a top 15 Social Entrepreneur by the EIB, and recipient of the She Shapes AI Award for AI & Media.

Dr. Swapneel Mehta

Dr. Swapneel Mehta is co-founder of the tech nonprofit, SimPPL, where he is building the transparency layer for the social internet. Through his tech nonprofit he helps journalists investigate the online accounts shaping public conversations and influencing elections, policy, and healthcare. Their collaborations with reporters in eight countries have made national news, informing platform enforcement efforts by Meta and X. He has won awards from MIT, Google, Mozilla, Wikimedia, and is supported by the UNDP. He pursued AI research at MIT and Boston University, and has shipped machine learning algorithms at X, Adobe, Slack, and CERN.

What Will You Get?

Participants leave the Skills Lab with more than a certificate. Here's what's waiting for you inside the programme:

  • Learning from a curriculum co-designed with a product leaders and data scientists

  • Hands-on lessons in creating journalistic proofs-of-concept using GenAI, LLMs, and agents

  • ‘Lecture’ and ‘Lab’ learning components, with a great degree of emphasis on hands-on experience

Who Is It For?

  • Candidates with at least some knowledge* of how AI systems are being used in journalism including but not limited to data journalists, reporters, editors, visual editors, copyeditors, product professionals etc.

  • Ideal candidates possess basic arithmetic and good numeracy skills to excel in the programme**

  • Ideal candidates have some knowledge and experience with Python**

* By "some knowledge," we mean that you should already understand what AI is and how it is currently being applied in newsrooms. This programme builds on that foundation and is best suited for those who are familiar with these concepts. If you’re just starting out, we recommend exploring introductory resources to gain the most from future opportunities.

**In the absence of existing numeracy and Python skills, you are still welcome to apply. We recommend such candidates take the following courses to ensure that all participants begin the programme on a uniform footing:

Code Academy (free basic access for this course)

Google’s Crash Course on Python (free)

Learn Python (free)

The Skills Lab is NOT for:

  • Candidates who are already proficient in using AI technologies and looking to significantly upgrade or enhance existing prototypes/tools

  • Independent journalists not affiliated with a news organisation

Prerequisites

Letter of support from your news organisation allowing you to dedicate time to the course.

Stable internet connectivity.

Prior knowledge of Python or the willingness to learn by the time the course commences. You will need to submit a certificate of completion in the case of the latter.

Participants must be able to commit about 7 hours a week to the programme during the course period.

Testimonials

(from previous JournalismAI Skills Lab cohorts)

Thomas Gröbner, Head of the Visual Desk and Development editor, SZ, Germany ❝ For me it is the gold standard, when it comes to AI in the newsroom. ❞

Meera K, Co-founder and Managing Trustee at Citizen Matters/Oorvani Foundation, India

❝ The JournalismAI Skills Lab was super helpful. It helped me understand the AI under-the-hood and think through multiple use cases in research, media and audience engagement. The practical approach made it easy to build the prototype, with enough inputs to take it to the next level.❞

Afore Hsieh, Producer, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Taiwan

❝ JournalismAI Skills Lab has far exceeded my expectations. I come from a non-technical background, but Jenny and Pedro explained complex concepts in a way that even someone like me can easily understand. The support and sharing from peers has also been incredibly valuable, giving us a clearer picture of how AI is being used in newsrooms around the world. ❞

Sara Cooper, Product Owner for Digital Projects, Correctiv

❝ The JournalismAI Skills Lab gave me the skills and confidence to lead my newsroom in building and adopting AI tools. I would not have learned so much in such a short time trying to navigate these topics on my own!❞

FAQs

  • We will run two cohorts this year. For the first cohort of 15 participants we welcome candidates from Africa, Europe, and the Americas. For the second cohort of 10 participants we welcome candidates from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

  • The initial core curriculum was co-developed with Juan Ginzo, JournalismAI alum, who is also the AI and Data Science Manager at News UK. This curriculum is updated for 2026 by the core instructors Jenny Romano, Swapneel Mehta, and Pedro Henriques. In addition to the core curriculum, you will receive training in product thinking, user-centred design and development from industry leader, Sheena Bhalla, Founder, Module Xero. 

    The programme will commence with two kick-off weeks that include introductory sessions as well as a workshop and small group coaching sessions. By the end of the programme you will have learned what goes into building a proof-of-concept or prototype and achieved one of your own. 

    As for what you’ll learn, it will go beyond basic prompt engineering. Modules include lessons about decoding frameworks, application design, advanced prompt engineering, using open-source models etc. The exact syllabus of the course is visible to selected candidates.

  • The programme is free to all selected candidates thanks to the support of the Google News Initiative. 

  • Yes. We will provide all selected candidates with modest financial support to purchase the necessary technology, software, and tools that may be required to complete their Skills Lab projects.

  • You are welcome to apply. However, selection for the programme is contingent on completing a pre-requisite Python course. This is to ensure that all participants have a near-uniform starting point and understanding of the course. The Python courses you can choose to learn from include:

  • The course aims to empower candidates to ultimately build their own AI-based tools. It also aims to equip you to contribute meaningfully to interdisciplinary newsroom AI projects.

  • Yes, there is a certificate for participation which is contingent upon an attendance of 80%.

The JournalismAI Skills Lab is organised by the JournalismAI team at Polis – the journalism think-tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and it is  supported by the Google News Initiative.