HITS welcomes 2026 Journalist in Residence Monika Mondal

The Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies gives science journalists the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of computer-based, data-driven science with a longer stay at the institute. A committee of science journalists and scientists selected Monika Mondal (India) as “HITS Journalist in Residence” for 2026. The award-winning science journalist will use her stay to work on her new nonfiction book project.

Indian science journalist Monika Mondal has started her residency as the 14th HITS Journalist in Residence this February. Mondal, an award-winning freelance reporter from Delhi, will spend six months at the institute, engaging with researchers and developing her new nonfiction project.

Mondal, who holds degrees in electronics, communication engineering, and development studies, has reported on topics ranging from life sciences to astronomy for publications including Nature, Wired, The Guardian, and The Hindu. She has received accolades such as a Pulitzer Center fellowship, the Alexander-von-Humboldt Chancellor’s Fellowship, and the Thomson Foundation Journalist Award.

During her stay at HITS, Mondal will conduct an internal workshop for the institute’s researchers as well as a public lecture for a general audience. In addition, she will focus in particular on her non-fiction book project titled Living in Emergence. “I would like to develop a work that helps us understand life in all its complexity,” she says. Her goal is to document not only scientific discoveries but also the process, the making of science. “I am eager to develop this project in dialogue with the HITS researchers and to gain a rare, meta-level view of the scientific method that is almost impossible to achieve as an external reporter, particularly for an independent journalist from the global south.”

The HITS Journalist in Residence Program

The Journalist in Residence program at HITS, established in 2012, invites experienced science journalists for three- to six-month residencies to collaborate with researchers, attend conferences, and pursue independent projects. To date, fourteen journalists from Canada, the U.S., Australia, India, Spain and Germany have been awarded the HITS fellowship (https://www.h-its.org/media/journalist-in-residence-program/alumni/).

HITS is a private, non-profit basic research institute. It was founded by Klaus Tschira and the Klaus Tschira Foundation in 2010. At HITS, currently around 130 scientists from more than 30 countries work in 11 research groups in areas where large amounts of data are produced and processed – from Molecular Biology to Astrophysics. One of the institute’s aims is to make the public more aware of the importance of computer-based, data-driven science, especially in natural sciences.