Stickler joined the bureau last month after 16 years at the BBC, where he worked for the Today programme for eight years, File on 4 and Newsnight.
"After spending 16 years in news, it was about the right time for me to move on to longer-form pieces. I've had a fantastic career with the BBC, where I've done good, thorough investigations, but there's always a tension between doing long-term investigations and 'on-the-day' stories (…) editors need to fill the space each day," Stickler told Journalism.co.uk.
Leading reporting efforts at the bureau is an exciting opportunity and "a new way of thinking about how to do investigative journalism", he added.
The bureau, which will officially launch on 26 April, was set up to support investigative journalism in the UK and received a £2 million grant from the Potter Foundation last year. Former ITN executive producer Iain Overton was appointed as its managing editor in September and announced plans to recruit up to 20 journalists in November.
The not-for-profit initiative will initially function as a production house working in collaboration with other news groups to get its investigations published and distributed. Its long-term aim is to explore new ways of conducting and funding investigative journalism.
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