OSINT training built by working investigators, for working investigators.
Workshops, masterclasses, in-newsroom programmes, and custom curricula in open-source intelligence and digital forensics. Designed for journalists who need to verify, attribute, and stand up findings under pressure.
What we teach
View methods archive →Training covers the methods used in live investigations. Image and video verification. Geolocation and chronolocation. Source attribution and chain of custody. Network and infrastructure analysis. Search engineering and dorking. Counter-disinformation. OPSEC for reporters and editors. Every module maps to a tool, a workflow, and a documented case.
The curriculum draws on Signal & Shadow's published Methods, the Eyewitness Textures framework, and a decade of newsroom practice. Materials are versioned against LST-001, the house editorial and structural standard.
Nineteen courses, three tiers
19 coursesFull course descriptions in the Signal & Shadow Training lookbook. Request a copy at [email protected]
How we deliver it
4 formatsWorkshops
Half-day and full-day formats on a single method or toolset. Suited to teams who need a focused capability uplift.
Masterclasses
Two to five day intensives across a coherent skill area. Open enrolment seats and private cohorts both available.
In-newsroom training
On-site or remote programmes embedded in a working newsroom, including capability assessment and follow-up.
Custom curricula
Built for organisations with specific verticals or threat models: defence, humanitarian, regulatory, and academic clients.
Who it's for
Investigative reporters and editors. Newsroom verification desks. Standards and trust teams. Fact-checking organisations. Research institutes. Civil society monitors. Anyone whose work depends on verifying claims about the physical, digital, or human world.
Sessions are pitched at working practitioners. Prior OSINT experience helps but is not required for foundational modules.
What you get
6 deliverablesLead trainer
No subcontracting without disclosure
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 is a former Faculty Member at the EBU Academy, where he designed and delivered masterclasses in OSINT methodology, digital forensics, and geolocation, 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 the European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) and the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO).
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 chapter author in Eyewitness Textures (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2024) and the founder of Signal & Shadow. All training engagements are led personally, to a documented standard.