BIOGRAPHIES

Lauren Beauchamp is a writer, journalist and communicator who has a passion for storytelling through digital media. She holds a bachelor’s in Media Production from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Radio Television Arts program. Lauren has worked in newsrooms, entertainment and sports, but discovered her passion while working in the investigative unit at CBC’s ‘The Fifth Estate.’ This opportunity led her to further her interest with a master’s in Investigative Reporting at University of London. During the pandemic, Lauren moved to Copenhagen, Denmark where she currently lives and works at a leading marketing agency specializing in automation, personalization and CRM. She simultaneously continues to pursue human rights and climate-related stories.

Ólöf Rún Erlendsdóttir is from Reykjavík, Iceland. She has a BA in Social Work and is pursuing an MA in journalism at the University of Iceland. She started her journalism career in August 2021 when she was offered a job at RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcaster. She now works as a broadcast, radio, and web reporter at RÚV North, in Akureyri, a town by the north shore of the island. She’s passionate about environmental issues and social justice. She loves to cook, read, and spend time outdoors with her partner and their two dogs.

Thomas Kellermann Hansen comes from a small town outside Copenhagen in Denmark but studied in Aarhus and completed his bachelor’s in journalism from The Danish School of Media and Journalism in January. As a part of his education, he completed an internship at a big, Danish newspaper and is right now working at a regional paper near Copenhagen. He loves to give people a voice and to write about what matters to people. He currently lives in Copenhagen.

Lex Harvey is a transportation reporter for the Toronto Star, Canada’s biggest newspaper, where she covers public transit, infrastructure, road safety, the green transition, the politics of transportation, and other related issues. Before that, she covered politics, fact-checking politicians during federal and provincial election campaigns. Lex first joined the Star in 2020 to help develop First Up, the paper’s daily newsletter, which she wrote for two years. Lex has also reported on how the climate crisis is affecting Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago close to the North Pole, and once investigated a group of Canadian doctors prescribing a false COVID-19 cure for profit. She has a Master of Global Affairs degree from the University of Toronto.

Teaghan Haysom is originally from Edmonton, Alberta. She moved to Ottawa to study at Carleton University. She is now in her third year pursuing a BA in Journalism and Humanities. She enjoys reporting on political issues and learning how to tell stories in creative ways. Teaghan also works at the House of Commons as a supervisor for the Page Program. She loves the first hand experience with the legislative system, and thinks her knowledge of procedure strengthens her reporting. Teaghan believes in the responsibility and potential journalists have in addressing the climate crisis. This fellowship has helped foster connections with other like minded young people. She is excited about the stories the fellows will create to talk about sustainability in new and interesting ways. 

Meral Jamal is a journalist in Nunavut via Ottawa. Originally from the United Arab Emirates, she is currently a reporter with Nunatsiaq News in Iqaluit, where she writes news and feature stories from Inuit communities across Inuit Nunangat. Along with the 2022 Nordic-Canadian Fellowship in Environmental Journalism, Meral is a recipient of the 2021 Ottawa Climate Storyteller Fellowship, the 2021 OCUFA Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism and the 2021 inaugural Equity, Diversity and Inclusion research award through Carleton University. She owes her start in journalism to her family and mentor Kanina Holmes, both of whom have emphasized how storytelling can help people and communities least seen but most impacted by the most pressing issues of our time. 

Norah Lång comes from the archipelago of the autonomous Åland Islands, located in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, but is now living in Malmö in southern Sweden. She is a peace and conflict student at Lund University, a freelance journalist and writer, as well as one of the editors of the Swedish literary magazine Ordkonst. She is engaged in various other culture and media projects, and one of her previous works is the short documentary film ”KÄNN INGEN SKAM FÖR MIG MHAMN”, which follows the lives of young Ålanders in the small harbor town Mariehamn. Her heart beats for global, political issues in a wide sense; she holds the interplay between local and international matters close at heart, and is passionate about exploring the intersection between issues such as sustainability, human rights and democracy.

Fern Marmont was born and raised in Victoria, BC, Canada. She moved to Montreal where she is completing a major in Journalism and a double minor in Political Science and First Nations Studies. Fern is part Anishinaabe and English, her parents raised her surrounded by activism. Since she was a kid, she has always been involved and interested in environmental and Indigenous issues, and now in her journalism, Fern always tries to focus on Indigenous perspectives. The fellowship has positively impacted Fern in ways she could have never imagined when she applied, but the most cherished aspect of the fellowship for Fern was getting to know all the other fellows.

Diellza Murtezaj is a Danish-Albanian woman from Copenhagen, Denmark. She studies Journalism at Roskilde University and works at the Danish Parliament as a student assistant in the press department for the green political party Alternativet. She has experience in political communication, press management and social media. Diellza is passionate about documentary storytelling and visual communication. 

Joël Ndongmi is a fourth-year student at the University of Toronto. He is currently studying political science, English, and diaspora studies. He is interested in political media, photography, and global conceptions of citizenship. During his time at the University of Toronto, Joël got involved as an Arts & Culture columnist at The Varsity (U of T’s student newspaper from 1880). While he does not come from a journalistic background, he applied for this opportunity to learn more about environmental reporting. So far, he’s learned much during this process and is eager to apply these newfound skills in his future journalistic endeavours.

Erica Ngao is a Chinese-Canadian journalist and fact-checker based in Toronto. She completed a Bachelor of Journalism and a Minor in Curatorial Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. Currently, she’s the associate editor at Reader’s Digest Canada. In 2021, she was among the third class of cohorts in the Solutions Journalism Network mentorship program where she focused on covering social challenges in ways that build a more equitable and sustainable world. She’s inspired by the power of storytelling, cross-border collaboration and everyone she’s met through the Nordic-Canadian Fellowship in Environmental Journalism. Her work has been featured in ELLE Canada, The Walrus, This Magazine and the Nieman Journalism Lab.

Andrea Kunz Skrede is from Lillehammer, Norway, but lives in Oslo. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Culture and Communication and a master’s degree in International Environmental Studies. She has previously been a web editor and content creator for the environmental organization Nordic Ocean Watch, and has also written for the student newspaper in Oslo. Andrea is passionate about social and environmental issues and the role communication can play in building awareness and provoking change. She believes that collaboration, the exchange of perspectives and creative expressions all play an important part in shaping a sustainable future.

Sara Tingström grew up in southern Sweden and currently lives in Stockholm. She has a bachelor’s degree in environmental journalism and previously worked at the local newspaper in her hometown. Her thesis was about whether journalism uses a global outlook when reporting on natural disasters caused by climate changes. In her paper, she finds that journalists should prioritise transnational perspectives instead of only using a national media logic in their work. To build comprehensive and dynamic understandings of how climate change is a global issue, not a national one. The transnational nature of her thesis is reflected in this work as urban farming, in the context of the articles, is explored from a transnational context. In January 2020, she was accepted to WWF Sweden Youth, a non-profit leadership program that runs until the end of 2022.

Laurie Trottier is a French-Canadian from Quebec currently living in Yukon, where she works as a reporter for the French newspaper in Whitehorse. Her studies in journalism, her bachelor’s degree in International Law and International Relations, and her travels have all quenched her thirst for knowledge and allowed her to meet people with different opinions and realities. To her, that’s what journalism is all about: cultivating empathy and inspiring change. She hopes to start a Master’s degree in September 2022, focusing on the Arctic.