UCLan announces first cohort of the postgraduate Journalism Innovation and Leadership Programme supported by the Google News Initiative

8 January 2021

Media professionals from around the world ready to be the next generation of industry leaders and innovators

The School of Arts and Media at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is pleased to announce the 14 participants in the new the Journalism Innovation and Leadership Programme supported by the Google News Initiative (GNI).

The 30-week part-time, postgraduate certificate course has been co-designed by a team of pragmatic academics and thoughtful industry leaders to foster the next generation of diverse news media leaders and innovators.

The Journalism Innovation and Leaderships Programme Class of 2021 live in Australia, England, Fiji, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Sweden and Zimbabwe. They work for public broadcasters, magazines, newspapers, news agencies, digital native outlets, and other news-related organisations.

The participants bring with them a wide range of experiences ranging from being editors at established news organisations to entrepreneurs fostering early-stage media start-ups. 

"Though their personal contexts and professional challenges might at first appear very different, there is much the cohort have in common. Prime amongst those is their shared passion for the role journalism can play in the health and wealth of communities - and the desire to step up to be the leaders and innovators our industry needs to push through this difficult time and to thrive."

Dr François Nel, Reader in Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UCLan and director of the scholarship programme

“Though their personal contexts and professional challenges might at first appear very different, there is much the cohort have in common,” said Dr François Nel, Reader in Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UCLan and director of the scholarship programme.

“Prime amongst those is their shared passion for the role journalism can play in the health and wealth of communities - and the desire to step up to be the leaders and innovators our industry needs to push through this difficult time and to thrive.

“We have little doubt that they’ll learn a great deal from each other over the course of this programme, alongside their engagement with their tutors and mentors. We can’t wait to get started.”

The certified postgraduate programme is supported by the Google News Initiative, which has provided funding for scholarships and to facilitate the associated mentoring programme, as well as connections to cutting-edge thinking and practice across the news ecosystem.

Matt Cooke, Head of Partnerships and Training at the GNI, said: “Through the Google News Initiative we’re supporting a new chapter for digital transformation training at UCLan. The curriculum being developed is grounded in real industry insights, it builds on emerging technologies and trends, and it will offer mid-career opportunities to candidates from across the country. We’re excited to see it launch.”

"Through the Google News Initiative we’re supporting a new chapter for digital transformation training at UCLan. The curriculum being developed is grounded in real industry insights, it builds on emerging technologies and trends, and it will offer mid-career opportunities to candidates from across the country. We’re excited to see it launch."

Matt Cooke, Head of Partnerships and Training at the Google News Initiative

The postgraduate certificate programme kicks off on 25 January 2021 in three 10-week blocks of instruction that will be a mix of asynchronous and live lectures, discussions, and small-group coaching and mentoring by industry leaders many of whom are UCLan alumni.

Amongst those are Alison Gow, President of the Society of Editors and Audience and Content Director: North West at Reach plc., and Joanna Gearey, Senior Director of Curation at Twitter, who recently tweeted:

“Taking on an exciting new mentoring role this year: journalism.co.uk/news/new-uclan… An early version of this course completely changed my perspective on the news industry and my role in it. I learned so much from @francoisnel and team and I hope I can help pay it forward.”

Each module will be team taught by applied academic tutors from the Media Innovation Studio at UCLan and thoughtful industry professionals - all with experience as innovators and leaders in startups, legacy companies, and non-profits. They’ll be joined by a roster of guest speakers from inside and outside of the media sector.

Participants will be matched with a personal industry mentor and complete two Applied Learning Projects that focus on diagnosing and responding to critical leadership and innovation challenges in their workplace.

The Journalism Innovation and Leadership Programme Class of 2021 are:

  • Olivia Crellin is a producer, reporter and documentary maker currently working for BBC World News. She’s also the founder of media diversity social enterprise PressPad.
  • Rosi Doviverata is Managing Editor Digital and Readership Development at the Fiji Sun, the biggest daily newspaper in the Pacific Islands.
  • Naeemah Dudan is the News Editor at Hashtag Our Stories, which publishes daily videos about people positively changing their world.
  • Catherine Edwards is an award-winning journalist and Europe Editor at The Local / @TheLocalEurope
  • Katherine Gallo is an experienced Digital Content Lead for Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Australia's multicultural and multilingual public broadcaster.
  • Christopher Goko is Editor of the Financial Gazette, Zimbabwe’s financial and business newspaper, which updated daily online and published in print each Thursday.
  • Andrew Kilmurray is editor of the award-winning weekly newspaper, St Helens Star, and sister title, Leigh Journal.
  • Marcela Kunova is a journalist and Editor at Journalism.co.uk.
  • Una Murphy is Publisher and Co-founder of VIEWdigital, an independent community media social enterprise in Northern Ireland, which specialises in social affairs journalism in VIEW magazine and on the VIEWdigital.org website.
  • Guthrie Munyuki is the Editor of the Daily News, Zimbabwe's largest circulating private daily.
  • Kamila Rymajdo is a freelance writer for Vice, i-D, Dazed, Mixmag and DJ Mag.
  • Hama Saburi is Chief Operating Officer of Zimbabwe (ANZ), the independent publisher of the Daily News and the Financial Gazette.
  • Jennifer Simpson is Content & News Editor @leponline & @The_Gazette and exam marker @NCTJ_news
  • John Simmonds is a sales and marketing consultant working with social impact and purpose-led magazine publishers such as Positive News, a pioneer of constructive journalism.

For queries about future programmes and further scholarship opportunities, contact the course leader Clare Cooke at CECook@uclan.ac.uk or the scholarship coordinator Dr François Nel at FPNel@uclan.ac.uk