Consultancy · Engagements

Investigations, audits, and standing advisory
for newsrooms and institutions.

Bespoke open-source investigations, capability audits, retained advisory, and editorial consultation. For organisations that need a verified answer, a defensible process, or a second pair of expert eyes.

Brief us → Request our consultancy lookbook

Section · 01

Ten engagements. One practice.

All led personally by Derek Bowler. Scoped to the question, the sensitivity, and the timeframe.

10 engagements

Engagement · 01 On application

Bespoke investigations.

Commissioned open-source investigation on a defined scope. Every claim evidenced, every source documented, confidence levels stated at each step, and chain of custody intact. The work holds under editorial review, legal challenge, or regulatory examination.

Engagement · 02 Remote

Pre-publication review.

Independent expert review of an investigation before publication. Assesses verification methodology, evidentiary standards, source handling, and chain of custody. Written review document states clearly what holds, what requires action, and what must be resolved. Pre-engagement NDA is standard.

Engagement · 03 On-site preferred

Capability audits.

Structured review of a newsroom or team's verification, OSINT, and digital forensics practice. Maps current capability against a working standard and produces a written audit report with a prioritised remediation plan that is immediately actionable.

Engagement · 04 On-site preferred

Standards development.

Building a written verification or OSINT methodology standard with the institution's team. From audit through collaborative drafting to a final document in plain operational language, owned by the institution. Typically six to ten weeks from commission.

Engagement · 05 Monthly · Quarterly

Retained advisory.

Standing access to senior OSINT and digital forensics counsel. Live editorial guidance, methodology review, tooling decisions, and expert input across the institution's active work. Structured around actual patterns of need, not a fixed hours model. Minimum term three months. Retainer clients are not disclosed.

Engagement · 06 On application

Incident response.

Rapid-response advisory following a verification failure, a disinformation attack, or a publication under external challenge. Initial response inside 48 hours where possible. Confidentiality terms executed before any material is shared.

Engagement · 07 Remote

Geolocation and visual verification.

Discrete analysis of specific footage or imagery to establish location, time, or authenticity. Output is a step-by-step chronolocation dossier with confidence levels stated at each evidential step and chain of custody documentation throughout.

Engagement · 08 Remote

Disinformation threat assessment.

Forward-looking assessment of the disinformation risk facing a specific institution, publication, election, or event. Written report covering the threat landscape, actor profiles, elevated risk moments, and a recommended monitoring and response protocol designed for the institution's specific risk profile.

Engagement · 09 Inside 3 working days

Editorial consultation.

Expert written answer to a single defined editorial or methodology question. Whether to publish. How to verify. How to attribute. A direct recommendation with reasoning, limits, and additional considerations where relevant. Written for the decision-maker, not the record.

Engagement · 10 On application

Embedded senior practitioner.

Derek embeds with a newsroom, broadcaster, NGO, or institution for a defined period to provide dedicated senior OSINT, verification, and investigative capacity. The institution receives immediate investigative output and a lasting capability: a documented methodology produced from practice, and a handover document on departure.

Full engagement details and pricing in the Signal & Shadow Consultancy lookbook. Request a copy at work@signalandshadow.io

Section · 02

How we work.

Written scope. Documented outputs. Confidentiality by default.

SIG-STD-002 →

Every engagement starts with a written scope. Outputs are documented to a defensible standard, with sourcing, methods, and limitations stated plainly. Confidentiality is the default. Where work touches active investigations or pre-publication editorial, we operate under explicit confidentiality terms before any material is shared.

Engagements we decline

We do not take engagements that conflict with the public-interest mission of the newsrooms and institutions we serve. We decline work that would compromise sources, methods, or the integrity of the open-source community.

Section · 03

Who it's for.

Newsrooms, institutions, foundations, and civil society organisations.

Commissioning profile

Newsrooms commissioning a difficult investigation. Standards, trust, and verification leads scoping a capability review. General counsel and editorial leadership needing expert input on a sensitive story. Foundations and research institutes commissioning monitoring or analysis. Regulators and civil society organisations needing defensible open-source evidence.

Section · 04

What you get.

Named senior practitioner. Written scope. Documented outputs. Clear pricing.

5 deliverables

A named senior practitioner.

On every engagement. No subcontracting without disclosure.

A written scope.

Before any work begins. Scope changes are documented and re-agreed.

Documented outputs.

To a verifiable standard, with sourcing, methods, and limitations stated plainly.

Clear pricing.

Tied to defined deliverables, not billable hours.

Follow-up review.

Where appropriate, at thirty and ninety days post-delivery.

Section · 05

Lead practitioner.

Every engagement is led personally. No subcontracting without disclosure.

Lead Practitioner

Derek Bowler.

Derek Bowler is an investigative journalist and OSINT architect with more than a decade of practice at the intersection of open-source intelligence, digital forensics, and editorial accountability.

He spent nine years at the European Broadcasting Union (2017 to 2026), most recently as Head of Eurovision Social Newswire and founding lead of Eurovision News Spotlight, the EBU's OSINT and fact-checking network, a 30-organisation coalition of public service broadcasters including the BBC, ZDF, France Televisions, CBC, and RTE. He founded the Eurovision Social Newswire in 2017 and served as Head of Social Newsgathering from 2018 to 2025, leading a global team of forensic journalists and OSINT specialists. During that period he created a verification residency model recognised by the Council of Europe as a benchmark for investigative resilience.

He has been part of the teams behind investigations reaching the highest levels of institutional consequence. A 2023 EBU cross-border investigation into the forced transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied territories was followed one month later by ICC arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova. Other team investigations have covered IDF operations against UN peacekeeping positions in southern Lebanon, and a 2025 investigation into Israel's $42M state-sponsored hasbara campaign.

Earlier, at Storyful in Dublin (2013 to 2016), he conducted digital forensics supporting The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Sky News, and The New York Times across Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine.

He is a former Faculty Member at the EBU Academy and contributed courses to the EBU Academy School of AI, which received the European Digital Skills Award 2025 from the European Commission. He serves as an assessor for EFCSN and EDMO. He is a chapter author in Eyewitness Textures (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2024) and the founder of Signal & Shadow. All consultancy engagements are led personally, to a documented standard, with no subcontracting without disclosure.

Years active in OSINT12+

EBU members served100+

House standardLST-001

TimezoneCEST

Full profile →

Derek Bowler

Selected investigations

Israeli government agency paid for Eurovision vote targeting

May 2025

UNIFIL bases under Israeli fire: targets or collateral damage

Oct 2024

Russification in occupied Ukraine: torture, deportation, cultural erasure

Nov 2023

The Missing Children of Ukraine — ICC arrest warrants followed one month after publication

ICC · Feb 2023

Institutional affiliations

Assessor, European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN)

2023 · Present

Assessor, European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO)

2021 · Present

European Digital Skills Award 2025, European Commission

Award

Publications

Eyewitness Textures: User-Generated Content and Journalism in the Twenty-First Century

McGill-Queen's University Press · 2024 · Chapter author

Section · 06

Start with a scoping call.

Initial scoping conversations are confidential and at no cost.

Response · 3 working days

Investigations, audits, and standing advisory for newsrooms and institutions.