Sérgio Spagnuolo

Sergio Spagnuolo is a technologist and media innovator with more than 18 years of experience in journalism. He is the founder and executive director of tech news website Nucleo Journalismo, as well as the founder of Volt Data Lab, a data-driven news agency.

From 2020 to 2022, Spagnuolo was a Knight Fellow with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), and an Innovation Fellow in 2023, leveraging his extensive background to drive innovation. He was an ICFJ Truth Buzz Fellow in 2018. Prior to his entrepreneurial ventures, he worked for several prominent media companies, including Reuters, Yahoo News, and Mergermarket (previously owned by Pearson/Financial Times Group).

In 2020, Sergio created Science Pulse, an open source tool that aggregated validated social media commentary from over 1,600 scientists and medical experts to provide journalists with trusted sources. Science Pulse proved invaluable for reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic. CNN Brazil called it “a beneficial bubble” of reliable information. 

During the U.S. midterm elections in 2022,  Sergio worked with several news organizations to provide analysis from validated non-partisan experts on critical election issues. Most recently, Sergio created Nuclito, an AI-powered chatbot template that enables news organizations to provide personalized, engaging interactions with readers. 

He currently serves on the board of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism and has spearheaded numerous partnerships to connect journalists, technologists, and civil society groups. Before creating Volt in 2014, he worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as communications coordinator at the World Centre for Sustainable Development, in Rio de Janeiro.

Spagnuolo holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Mackenzie University and a Master's degree in International Relations from Pontifícia Universidade Católica (PUC), both in São Paulo. He is also a former 2016 Tow-Knight fellow for Entrepreneurial Journalism, at City University of New York, and a former ICFJ fellow for the program "A Digital Path to Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Latin America", based in San Francisco. 

IJNet pieces:

Video: Interview with ICFJ Truthbuzz Fellow from Brazil 

In audio interview, ICFJ TruthBuzz Fellow discusses misinformation in Brazil