Alison Killing
Killing in 2024
Born
Alma materKing's College, Cambridge (BA)
Oxford Brookes (MA)
EmployerFinancial Times
AwardsPulitzer Prize for International Reporting (2021)

Alison Killing is a British architect, urban designer, and journalist specializing in open-source intelligence.[1][2] She received the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2021.

Early life

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Killing was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and obtained her bachelor's degree from King's College, Cambridge in 2002 before receiving her master's degree from Oxford Brookes in 2004.[3][1][4]

Career

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Killing worked as an architect in London and Rotterdam, working for Buro Happold and Kees Christiaanse before starting her own studio, Killing Architects, in 2010.[1][3]

While continuing her work as an architect, Killing began working as a journalist, working with Buzzfeed on an investigation about how Instagram stories can facilitate increased police surveillance.[5]

Killing was part of the team that produced a series of innovative articles that used satellite images, 3D architectural models, and in-person interviews to expose China’s vast infrastructure for detaining hundreds of thousands of Muslims in its Xinjiang region and won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.[6][7][8][9]

In 2023, Killing joined Financial Times as a visual investigations reporter.[10] She has written about the "unravelling" of the Neom development, the murdering of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and the Israel-Gaza war.[11] In 2025, Killing was awarded two Amnesty International Media Awards for her work on extremist settlers in the West Bank and the Russian abduction of Ukrainian children.[12]

Killing is a TED Fellow.[4]

Personal life

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Killing lives in Rotterdam.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Jessel, Ella (26 August 2021). "Alison Killing: The British architect who won a Pulitzer". The Architects’ Journal. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  2. ^ "Alison Killing". TED. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  3. ^ a b "About". Killing Architects. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Alison Killing". THNK. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  5. ^ Brown, Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing, Jeremy Singer-Vine, Hayes (21 September 2019). "How Your Instagram Story Lets The Cops Follow You Around A City". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 11 November 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "The 2021 Pulitzer Prize Winner in International Reporting". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  7. ^ David Mack; Tasneem Nashrulla (11 June 2021). "BuzzFeed News Has Won Its First Pulitzer Prize For Exposing China's System For Detaining Muslims". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  8. ^ Amaris Castillo (11 June 2021). "BuzzFeed News wins its first Pulitzer Prize for series on China's mass detention of Muslims". Poynter. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  9. ^ Bernstein, Fred A. (28 June 2021). "Architect Alison Killing Wins a Pulitzer for Uncovering Forced Labor Camps in China". Architectural Record. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  10. ^ "Designing the newsroom of the future". www.ftstrategies.com. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  11. ^ "Client Challenge". www.ft.com. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  12. ^ "ABOUT THE FT". aboutus.ft.com. 5 June 2025. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
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