Air pollution is India’s single largest external health risk, yet much of the reporting still peaks during smog season rather than reflecting its year-round impact. Turning Air Data Into Action is a workshop designed to change that. It began with a masterclass on using open datasets to shape clear, compelling story angles, followed by a hands-on session with the University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) - a tool that highlights how air pollution reduces life expectancy at the district level. The workshop concluded with a panel of senior journalists and science communicators sharing how to make air quality coverage more consistent and impactful in the newsroom.
The format was compact and practice-driven, with lessons anchored in real newsroom practice, so that the participants can move from numbers to publishable story ideas. By the end of the session, attendees took away concrete story leads, export-ready datasets from AQLI, and a resource pack to support continued reporting. The goal was to equip early-career journalists with the skills and outputs to turn air quality data into stories that can inform public debate and support policies for cleaner air.
Read more about the event.
9:30 – 9:35 AM | Welcome Remarks | Dr Leni Chaudhuri, Executive Director, The University of Chicago Center in Delhi
9:35 – 9:40 AM | Opening Remarks | Ashirbad Raha, Regional Director, Communications, EPIC India
9:40 – 9:50 AM | Participant Introductions
9:50 – 10:30 AM | Masterclass 1: Hands-On with Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) — Visualising Air Pollution Impacts (45 mins)
Speaker: Tanushree Ganguly, Director, AQLI & Dr Hrishikesh Chandra Gautam, Data Specialist, AQLI
Focus: Navigating the AQLI web tool, interpreting life expectancy numbers, spotting common mistakes
10:30 – 11:10 AM | Masterclass 2: Cracking the Code — How to Work with Air Quality Data (45 mins)
Speaker: Abhishek Jha, Assistant Editor-Data, Hindustan Times
Focus: Finding, cleaning, verifying, and interpreting air pollution datasets
11:10 – 11:25 AM | Tea/Break (15 mins)
11:25 – 12:10 PM | Masterclass 3: Numbers that Speak — Turning Air Quality Data into Stories People Remember (45 mins)
Speaker: Rajit Sengupta, Associate Editor, Down To Earth
Focus: Framing, visualising, and adapting stories for print, online, and TV
12:10 – 12:55 PM | Panel Discussion: The Last Mile — Turning Air Quality Data into Publishable Stories (45 mins)
Moderator | Ashirbad S Raha, Regional Communications Director, EPIC India
Panelist: Navya Singh - Founder, News With Navya & Sustainability Strategist Panelist: Uzmi Athar - Chief Correspondent, Press Trust of India Panelist: Bhasker Tripathi - Climate Correspondent, Thomson Reuters Foundation/Context
Focus: Editorial pressures, newsroom realities, cross-platform challenges
12:55 – 1:00 PM | Photo-Op with all Panelists/Speakers
1:00 – 2:00 PM | Lunch Break (60 mins)
2:00 – 2:45 PM | Storyboarding/Brainstorming Session/Group Presentation (45 mins)
Lead: Tanushree Ganguly & Dr Hrishikesh Chandra Gautam
Hands-on activity: participants apply AQLI learnings to brainstorm potential air pollution stories/three ways they would use the data
2:45 – 2:50 PM | Concluding Remarks | Tanushree Ganguly
2:50 – 3:00 PM | Certificate Distribution
Abhishek Jha Abhishek is the Assistant Editor-Data for Hindustan Times. He uses statistical programming to generate newsworthy insights from large datasets. He is part of the team that produces Number Theory, a daily data story feature of the paper’s print edition. Since March 2024, he has been writing Weather Bee, a weekly column for the Hindustan Times website.
Navya Singh Navya is an award-winning climate action journalist, sustainability strategist, and the founder of News With Navya (Fact Forth LLP), a pioneering digital newsroom dedicated to making climate action accessible, solution-focused, and rooted in Indian wisdom. Through multilingual content in Hindi and English, including fast-paced news, explainers, interviews, newsletters, and on-ground reports, NWN simplifies complex climate issues while spotlighting grassroots innovations, indigenous solutions, and India’s sustainability efforts.
By combining responsible journalism with solution-driven storytelling, the platform champions India’s traditional practices, local innovations, and scalable solutions with global relevance.
Uzmi Arthar Uzmi is an award-winning journalist with over a decade of experience reporting for India’s leading news agency, the Press Trust of India. With proven expertise in covering India’s social and developmental issues alongside health, politics, policy, and environmental beats, Uzmi has a remarkable track record of delivering impactful narratives that shape policy and engage diverse audiences.
For her stories, she has won several international awards, including the United Nation's prestigious Ricardo Ortega Memorial prize, the Cushrow Irani Prize for Environmental Reporting in 2024, and the International Prize of Ulrich Wickert Award for Children’s Rights last year. She is also a recipient of Thomson Reuters Foundation's Food Sustainability Media award and was selected for a fellowship on climate journalism by Oxford University. Her stories have been widely published across major global news organisations, including The Washington Post, The Independent, Associated Press, and Reuters.
Rajit Sengupta Rajit is a climate journalist and media trainer with over 15 years of experience. He is currently the associate editor with the Down to Earth magazine in New Delhi, where he leads the climate data centre. He is also the author of State of India's Environment in Figures, the only data-driven annual book on climate in India, and India's Atlas on Disasters.
Rajit Sengupta Rajit is a climate journalist and media trainer with over 15 years of experience. He is currently the associate editor with the Down to Earth magazine in New Delhi, where he leads the climate data centre. He is also the author of State of India's Environment in Figures, the only data-driven annual book on climate in India, and India's Atlas on Disasters.
Bhasker Tripathi Bhasker is a climate correspondent at the Thomson Reuters Foundation/Context, specializing in just transition and the political economy of climate change. An award-winning journalist with over a decade of experience reporting for Indian and global newsrooms, his work focuses on how climate change affects vulnerable communities, and on the emerging solutions and economies shaping their future.