Presenters

Dr. Emma Heywood

Monday 7 November
10.05 - 10.30
Talk: International Journalism Week 2022: Meaning and Significance

Emma is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Radio and Communication and is the Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes (PGT) in the Journalism Studies Department of the University of Sheffield. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), and in 2022, her teaching practice was recognised with a Vice Chancellor's Award for Learning and Teaching from the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the role and impact of radio in conflict- and crisis-affected areas. She has been the principal investigator on two large research projects: a large UKRI-funded project investigating perceptions and representations of women’s rights and empowerment by radio in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso; and an urgent Covid-19 response project funded by Elrha examining the use of radio and social media to address misinformation about the pandemic among internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Burkina Faso.

Both projects build on current work by the FemmePowermentAfrique  project, which Emma leads. Emma has previously been awarded British Academy funding for her West Bank project, which investigated the role of local radio in NGO activities in war-affected zones. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in the West Bank and now in west Africa.

Prof Jackie Harrison

Monday 7 November
10.30 - 11.00
Keynote Address

Jackie Harrison is the head of Journalism Studies and Professor of Public Communication at the University of Sheffield and has chaired the interdisciplinary research institute Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) since 2008. As UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity, Jackie promotes in-depth collaborative academic research with centres of expertise, media and NGOs, governments and international bodies on issues of journalism safety, media freedom, freedom of expression, and more. Jackie is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has worked with the UK government’s Multilateral Policy Directorate, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, to mention a few.

Dr Janet Harris

Monday 7 November
13.00 - 15.00
Workshop: War Reporting

Dr Janet Harris is a nominated documentary producer/director, having worked for many years at the BBC and as a freelancer with experience of working in Iraq, during and after the war. She filmed in Iraq as an embedded director with the British military for the BBC series Soldier, Husband, Daughter, Dad (2005), and for the BBC series Fighting the War (2003).  She also worked in post-conflict Iraq for the series Saddam’s Iraq for ITV & Middle East Broadcasting (2004).

Janet was last in Iraq in 2013 to make a documentary for the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq for the BBC This World strand ‘Did My Son Die in Vain’ (2014).  She obtained a PhD from Cardiff University in 2012 and now lectures in documentary and international journalism at Cardiff. Her research interests include documentary, journalism, war, Iraq, and conflict reporting. She is co-author of the book Reporting War and Conflict.

Student Wellbeing FSS and SAMHs Team

Tuesday 8 November
10.00 - 11.00
Wellbeing Workshops: coping with trauma, exercise, eating and sleeping well.

Fiona Murray

Fiona is a Wellbeing Adviser for the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. She has a BSc in Psychology and considerable experience working with young adults in Higher Education Student Support Services. At Lancaster University, she implemented a successful health and wellbeing programme that focused on early engagement and proactive support and received a certificate of recognition for her contributions to Student Support.  She has a particular interest in empowering individuals to manage their wellbeing by drawing on therapeutic techniques including psychoeducation and solution-focused approaches. She iscurrently writing my MSc dissertation on therapeutic treatments in Major Depressive Disorder as part of a postgraduate programme with King's College London.

Emily Vickers

Emily is a Wellbeing Adviser for the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. She has over 10 years' experience of working with vulnerable social groups, both in the UK and internationally. After graduating in 2009, she went on to specialise in supporting those with substance misuse and mental health issues. She has skills in both Counselling & CBT and takes a holistic approach to her therapeutic work.  Emily has worked in Higher Education for the past 5 years and has a strong passion for empowering students to navigate their way through university life.

Hannah Storm

Tuesday 8 November
11.00 - 12.00
Talk: Trauma-informed journalism and the risk of moral injury.

Hannah Storm is the Founder and Co-Director of Headlines Network. She is the former CEO of the International News Safety Institute and the Ethical Journalism Network, a sought-after speaker, facilitator, trainer and writer. Hannah co-authored the first study into moral injury and the media for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism with Professor Anthony Feinstein and has written extensively at the intersection of gender, mental health, physical and online safety. In 2020, she wrote publicly about her own experiences of post-traumatic stress, her recovery, and how those experiences shape her work. Hannah is also a qualified Mental Health First Aider with MHFA England. Outside her journalism work, she's an award-winning author of flash fiction and an accomplished marathon runner, and she finds writing and running hugely beneficial for her mental health. 

BBC High Risk and News Safety Team

Tuesday 8 November
13.00 - 14.00
Talk: Keeping journalists safe in a dangerous world - a BBC perspective

A member of the BBC High Risk and News Safety team (HRNS). The BBC High Risk team provide specialist safety and security advice and support to all areas of the BBC work globally. 

Professor Mark Deuze

Tuesday 8 November
14.00 - 15.00 
Talk: On (un)happiness in Journalism

Mark Deuze is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Faculty of Humanities, with honorary appointments at the Faculty of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia; the School of Communication of the University of Technology Sydney, Australia; and the Department of Communication and Media Studies of Northumbria University, United Kingdom. Before these, he worked as a journalist and academic in the United States, Germany and South Africa. Publications of his work include over 100 papers in academic journals and 11 books, including “Life in Media” (The MIT Press, forthcoming 2023), and “McQuail’s Media and Mass Communication Theory” (7th edition co-authored with Denis McQuail). Deuze runs a combined vlog/podcast (available on various platforms, including YouTube and Spotify) where he interviews prominent media scholars and professionals from around the world.

Professor Valérie Bélair-Gagnon

Tuesday 8 November
14.00 - 15.00 
Talk: On (un)happiness in Journalism

Valérie Bélair-Gagnon is a journalism studies researcher who is Associate Professor, Cowles fellow in media management at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication and McKnight Presidential Fellow at the University of Minnesota, USA. She is also a visiting researcher at the Oslo Metropolitan University Department of Journalism and Media and Fellow at the Yale Information Society Project. She is the author of The Paradox of Connection (2023, Illinois University Press, with Bossio, Holton and Molyneux), Journalism Research that Matters (2021, Oxford University Press with Usher), and Social Media at BBC News (2015, Routledge).

Focus Africa panel discussion

Topic: Political tension, disinformation, and news coverage of elections in Africa

Wednesday 9 November 
10.00 - 11.00

This dialogue will focus on the news coverage of recent elections in Nigeria, many of which have been characterised by a high degree of political tension between the two leading candidates and by increasing levels of disinformation, particularly on social media.

Panellists

Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso

Nuhu Diraso Gapsiso Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Journalism and New Media at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. He holds a PhD in Mass Communication. His teaching and research interests are in Media and Human rights, Print Media, New Media and Journalism. He is a member of African Council for Communication Education, and Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria. He is a Consultant to many NGOs and has served as resource person and facilitator in several workshops in Nigeria. Nuhu has published widely both in local and International journals.

Professor Charles Okigbo

Charles C. Okigbo is professor emeritus of strategic communication at North Dakota State University (USA), where he conducts research on media coverage of elections, strategic fundraising in higher education, and the processes for leadership development and social change. He had been Registrar of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Vice President of ORBICOM, The UNESCO Think Tank at the University of Quebec, Montréal, Canada, and the Executive Coordinator of the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE) at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Rizwana Hamid

Wednesday 9 November
11.00 - 12.00
Talk: Reporting Islam in times of conflict and tension

Rizwana (Rizu) Hamid is an award-winning journalist & film maker with over 35 years-experience working as a television producer/director for the BBC, Channel 4 and other international broadcasters in News, Current Affairs, Documentaries and Religious Programming. Her films have won awards, been presented as evidence in inquiries and led to changes in policy. She is currently the Director of the Muslim Council of Britain’s Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM) which promotes fair, accurate and responsible reporting of Muslims & Islam in the media. CfMM monitors the media daily, creates an evidence base, publishes reports and engages constructively with various stakeholders including the media, regulators and politicians. As part of her advocacy role, Rizwana also delivers “Conscious Journalism” training to media outlets and Masterclasses to schools of journalism.

Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) panel discussion

Topic: Reporting from Ukraine at war: Issues and perspectives.

Thursday 10 November
10.00 - 12.00 

William Horsley

Panel moderator

William Horsley is International Director of the Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) at the University of Sheffield. For many years he reported on major world events for TV and radio as a BBC foreign correspondent in Europe and Asia, and as a programme presenter. He is now a leading international advocate for media freedom and on the UK Board of Reporters Without Borders. In 2015 he co-founded a Europe-wide online system of alerts on attacks against independent journalism covering the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

William writes the international director’s blog on the CFOM website and is the author of the OSCE Safety of Journalists Guidebook (2020) and co-author of the UNESCO Issue Brief on Freedom of Expression and the Safety of Foreign Correspondents (2020). In his work for CFOM William contributes actively to strengthening legal standards, government policies and international actions to protect journalists everywhere who are at risk because of their work.

CFOM Panel, part 1: Reporting from the front line 

10.00 - 10.55am

Sergiy Tomilenko

Sergiy Tomilenko is President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), an independent, non-governmental, organisation that unites journalists and other media workers who are engaged in journalism and journalistic activities. The current main activities of NUJU are assistance for Ukrainian and international media journalists covering the war in Ukraine, and monitoring incidents with journalists during the war. 

Sergiy has worked as a journalist and an editor-in-chief in regional newspapers and news agencies since 1998. In May 2012, he was appointed the First Secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. Since 2013 Sergiy has been a member of the Public Council at the State Committee for Television and Radio of Ukraine, as well as a permanent representative of the NUJU on the Journalist Ethics Commission. He became the president of NUJU in 2017. Sergiy Tomilenko joined the Council on Freedom of Speech and Protection of Journalists under the President of Ukraine. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the European Federation of Journalists.

Clothilde Redfern

Clothilde Redfern is the Director of the Rory Peck Trust, an organisation dedicated to the support, safety and welfare of freelance journalists worldwide. She started her career at the International Herald Tribune newspaper then worked in broadcasting, including Channel 4’s Documentaries department, before taking leadership roles in non-profit organisations supporting journalists and filmmakers. Clothilde works closely with the Board of Trustees and staff at the Rory Peck Trust to ensure freelance journalists are supported to manage the increasing risks journalists are exposed to and can access support should they need assistance in a crisis. She has been a member of the advisory board for the Department of Media at Brunel University and currently sits on the board of the ACOS Alliance. She is passionate about the role of journalists in fully functioning democracies.

CFOM Panel, part 2: Facing the choices in war reporting: Access, Safety and Truth-telling

11.05 - 12.00pm

Oksana Romaniuk

Oksana Romaniuk is the Executive Director of the Kyiv based Institute of Mass Information (IMI) since August 2013. The IMI is a leading Ukrainian NGO that researches mass information in modern society. Its objectives include defending freedom of speech, supporting Ukrainian mass media, training Ukrainian journalists, drafting and lobbying media-reforms, and monitoring the rights of journalists and media. Prior to leading the IMI, Ms. Romaniuk coordinated projects of the International Federation of Journalists in seven different countries of the former Soviet Union. Previously, she worked at the UNIAN news agency, where she founded its English language service and served as a correspondent. Ms. Romaniuk is active in the Stop Censorship! movement in Ukraine, and has served as the Ukraine representative of Reporters Without Borders since 2010.

Taras Fedirko

Dr Taras Fedirko is a social anthropologist researching media, oligarchy, and war in Ukraine. Since 2017, Taras has conducted ethnographic field research on news journalism in Kyiv, with a special focus on the politics and the economy of broadcasting. He is currently writing a book about the transformation of the Ukrainian journalistic profession in 2014-2022. Taras is British Academy Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews and was previously a postdoc at the University of Cambridge. He holds a PhD in socio-cultural anthropology from Durham University and an MA in East European Studies from the University of Bologna. Taras has written for the Wall Street Journal, openDemocracy, and Novara, among others. He tweets at @peasantpedant.