Data Sunday—the day dedicated to data journalism within Abraji’s International Congress of Investigative Journalism—will, in?2025, receive support from the R?Consortium for the second time and from the Python Software Foundation (PSF) for the first time. These international partnerships strengthen core values shared by both organizations, such as innovation, diversity, data literacy and accessibility.
The R?Consortium, for instance, sets Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) as fundamental values of the R community, acknowledging that diversity and inclusion are crucial pillars for fostering innovation and creativity in the open?source ecosystem. The PSF’s mission is to promote and protect the Python language and to “support the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers,” encouraging the participation of people from all backgrounds in the global community. Both bodies maintain grant programs that support events, workshops and educational initiatives worldwide, seeking geographic equity and prioritizing underserved communities—perfectly aligned with Data Sunday’s purpose in Brazil.
R and Python are open?source programming languages that have become pillars of modern data analysis: R, created in the 1990s by statisticians at the University of Auckland, was designed for statistics and visualization and today offers robust ecosystems such as tidyverse, ggplot2 and tidymodels; Python, released in?1991 by Guido?van?Rossum, is a multi?paradigm language known for its readable syntax and vast repository of libraries, leading AI development with frameworks such as pandas, scikit?learn, TensorFlow and PyTorch. Together they power much of today’s technological infrastructure—from data science in companies and universities to machine?learning engineering at large platforms—and, in data journalism, enable web scraping, cleaning and merging public datasets, statistical modeling, automated reporting and interactive visualizations, strengthening evidence?based investigations, transparency and reproducibility in newsrooms.
A full day of data training with diversity and nationwide reach
Held on the last day of Abraji’s annual congress, Data Sunday is an entire day devoted exclusively to data?journalism workshops, covering programming tools (R, Python), applied statistics, data visualization, electoral coverage and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques. Since its inception, the event’s goal has been to bring together Brazil’s data?journalism community and present this investigative approach to everyone, regardless of experience level—in other words, to foster data literacy in Brazilian newsrooms, making code and advanced analysis accessible even to professionals without technical backgrounds.
Each year, Data Sunday has grown in audience and scope. At the 2024 congress, for example, Abraji broke attendance records and expanded the diversity of topics and participants, and the 2025 goal is to make the event even more inclusive and welcoming. This is reflected both in the presence of international guests—names such as Jonathan?Soma (Columbia Journalism School) and Fernanda?Aguirre (The Examination) will be at the 2025 edition, linking Brazilian journalism to the global debate on transparency and data science—and in concrete inclusion initiatives. This year, with support from the R?Consortium and the PSF, Abraji will be able to expand its diversity?scholarship program, sponsoring at least 30 Black women from all regions of Brazil to attend the four?day congress, strengthening audience representation. The event’s code of conduct has also been updated, reaffirming the commitment to a respectful and safe environment for all participants.
Another value shared by the sponsors and Abraji is innovation. The program of the 20th Congress (10–13?July?2025 in São?Paulo) has been designed to combine cutting?edge technical knowledge, critical thinking and diverse perspectives. On Data Sunday (13?July?2025, 9:30?a.m.–6?p.m.), participants will find activities for every experience level—from beginners to advanced professionals. There will be seven simultaneous labs with hands?on workshops and panels, organized into thematic tracks that help attendees choose according to their interests and knowledge levels. This structure ensures that no one is left out: those who have never coded can take their first steps, while those who already master data?analysis tools will find challenging workshops to further refine their skills. As Reinaldo?Chaves, Abraji’s project coordinator, points out, the goal is to introduce new techniques and strengthen the local data?journalism community, bringing to Brazil tools that “are already a reality in several countries, contributing to the improvement of journalism.”
R?track: from basics to in?depth investigation
Because of its close ties to statistics, the R language has become one of journalists’ gateways to the data?science world, allowing investigative reporting to reach a higher level with more robust quantitative analyses. In?2025, Data Sunday will again feature a full?day track dedicated to R, thanks to continued support from the R?Consortium. After last year’s success—when more than 30 journalists followed the complete R learning circuit from start to finish—Abraji will repeat and expand the experience. There will be six hours of immersion divided into four modules throughout the day, combining theory and practice with newsroom needs in mind.
The R?specific program has been redesigned to guide participants from zero to producing evidence?based story ideas in a single day. The “R Bootcamp – from first step to first story” (Parts?1 and?2) opens the morning with two co?organizers of R?Ladies São?Paulo, the local chapter of a global volunteer movement for gender?minority inclusion in tech: Ana?Carolina?Moreno, Abraji director, and Jade?Maré, head of digital transformation at Greenpeace Brazil. They show how to install R and RStudio, understand programming logic and use essential tidyverse functions to clean, summarize and visualize data inspired by published reports. By midday, participants who have never coded will have run simple queries and generated tables or charts ready to enter a story.
The afternoon continues with “Data storytelling with R: shortcuts to public?data access” (Parts?1?&?2). Jade?Maré returns alongside Rafael?Pereira, senior researcher and head of data science at Ipea, creator of the censobr (access to the IBGE demographic census) and geobr (official Brazilian geographic meshes) packages. They demonstrate how to download, process and merge these datasets in seconds, showcasing cases in which the packages underpinned major reports. The R?Ladies SP team will be on standby for mentoring, helping participants test their own hypotheses and sketch leads based on the explored data. This session requires basic familiarity with R—provided in the morning—and closes the cycle by presenting a complete workflow: data acquisition, analysis, visualization and generation of story ideas from Brazilian public data.
Besides a lab dedicated entirely to R introduction, participants with some initial R knowledge can join the workshop “From QGIS to R: answering cartographic questions.” Journalists Cecilia?do?Lago and Cindy?Damasceno (Estadão) introduce raster and vector concepts, explain differences between geospatial data types and demonstrate, step by step, how to migrate QGIS workflows to R—using packages such as sf and terra to cross territorial datasets, create thematic maps and answer questions like “How many hectares of deforestation occurred in federal conservation units over the last five years?”
In addition to practical demonstrations (e.g., getting socioeconomic information for municipalities or mapping indicators in specific regions), the instructors will share real cases of reports made possible through analyses with these packages. This final activity will allow participants to grasp R’s potential for extracting stories from official data, reinforcing why investing in R training can yield valuable results: the skills learned often translate into articles that expose problematic public policies, fraud schemes or other threats to democracy, helping hold power to account and reduce inequalities.
Diverse Python programming and data?technology sessions
Parallel to the R track, Data Sunday?2025 will offer a rich lineup focused on Python and open technologies to power investigative journalism. By supporting the event for the first time, the Python Software Foundation helps expand these activities and reinforce Python’s presence as a newsroom ally. Highlights from the Python and data?tech track include:
Strengthening innovation and diversity in Brazilian journalism
With support from the R?Consortium and the Python Software Foundation, Data Sunday?2025 consolidates itself as a key space for innovation and capacity?building in Brazilian journalism. The presence of these entities not only financially enables high?quality workshops but also symbolizes international recognition of Abraji’s efforts to spread data culture, open source and transparency in newsrooms.
Now in its 20th edition, Abraji’s International Congress of Investigative Journalism is one of the world’s largest journalism events, and Data Sunday has become a symbol of the rise of data?driven journalism in Brazil. By providing hands?on training in R and Python—two free, widely adopted languages—to journalists from all corners of the country, Abraji helps democratize access to sophisticated investigative tools. This initiative directly echoes the diversity and accessibility values promoted by the sponsors: the idea that any journalist, regardless of background or newsroom, can acquire new skills and contribute evidence?based, investigative stories.
Ultimately, training investments like Data Sunday produce benefits that spill over the individual level. Each data?skilled reporter gains the ability to uncover stories once hidden in spreadsheets, databases or code—whether revealing irregularities in public policy, corruption schemes, hidden social inequalities or countless other high?impact topics. By supporting this effort for the second year, the R?Consortium reinforces its mission to strengthen the global and local R community, while the Python Software Foundation joins as a new partner aligned with the vision of a more diverse, worldwide Python ecosystem. For the public and the journalism community, the tangible outcome will be a Data Sunday?2025 even richer in content, diverse in voices and transformative in many professionals’ careers. In short, this unprecedented collaboration between Abraji and the R and Python foundations shows that innovation and inclusion go hand in hand—and that, with the right resources, it is possible to empower journalists with cutting?edge knowledge to better fulfill the mission of informing and enlightening society.
Event details – 20th International Congress of Investigative Journalism: The congress takes place 10–13?July?2025 in São?Paulo (SP), at ESPM’s Álvaro Alvim campus. Data Sunday is held on 13?July (final day), 9:30?a.m.–6?p.m.; tickets are sold separately. Registration and full program: official congress website.
Learn how to register and see the complete schedule at https://congresso.abraji.org.br/.
Sponsor the 20th Congress: John S. Knight Fellowships, Google, Uber, World, Novo Nordisk, Cloudwalk, Transparência Internacional - Brasil, Grupo Globo, Jusbrasil, Abracom (Associação Brasileira das Agências de Comunicação), Alma Preta, Textual Comunicação, I'Max Communicate More, SBCBM (Sociedade Brasileira de Cirurgia Bariátrica e Metabólica), Itaú, AFD (Agende Française de Développement), Poder360, Projor (Instituto Para o Desenvolvimento do Jornalismo), R Consortium, ITS (Instituto de Tecnologia e Sociedade do Rio), RSF (Repórteres sem Fronteiras), Artigo 19, Python Software Foundation, Amado Mundo, Tokio Marine Seguradora, AMD (Associação dos Magistrados Brasileiros) and The Journalism Company.
Content Supporters: YouTube, Basília Rodrigues Comunicação, Forbidden Stories, UNAIDS, Pulitzer Center, Fundação Lemann and Revista Cenarium.
Institutional Partners: Fórum de Direito de Acesso a Informações Públicas, GBR Comunicação, Aberje (Associação Brasileira de Comunicação Empresarial), Coalizão em Defesa do Jornalismo (CDJor), Covering Climate Now, Chef Keila Aviano, Transmídia, Globo News, Folha de S. Paulo, Eficientes, Abert, SEJ (Society of Environmental Journalists), Agência Mural, Portal Imprensa, Jeduca (Associação de Jornalistas de Educação), Galápagos Newsmaking, DiversaCom, ANJ (Associação Nacional de Jornais), Pacto Pela Democracia and Oboré.
