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:
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
You must be logged in to post a comment Login