Zeynep Şentek is a Turkish investigative journalist specialising in human rights and corruption reporting. Her work has appeared in several leading media around the world, including Der Spiegel, NRC, L’Espresso, Le Soir, Vice, Politiken, and has been awarded and shortlisted for various journalism prizes. She has a PhD in political science from Heidelberg University.

She promoted feminist, cross-border, investigative journalism in numerous settings, including at major industry events. In her previous role at openDemocracy, she supported its feminist journalism project and brought journalists together to work on deep dives into anti-gender actors around the world. She also teaches a variety of investigative techniques to early-career journalists in Turkey and Europe, demonstrating how investigative methods can be used for impactful reporting, including to uncover real threats to women and LGBTQ rights.

Zeynep was the managing editor of the investigative news platform The Black Sea for several years when the outlet was part of the pan-European journalism network European Investigative Collaborations (EIC). As the only woman from Eastern Europe on the EIC’s board, she pushed for better gender representation and inclusion. During a five-year period, she oversaw a team that led several prominent journalistic projects. She is currently the project director of the Climate Network at Arena for Journalism in Europe, where she works to improve climate reporting across the continent while advocating for a better gender and geographical balance in the climate-journalism field.