Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Universities take action to increase academic diversity in the media
The ‘driving academic diversity in our media voices’ campaign, being coordinated by University Alliance (UA), will see UA and member universities, including Leeds Beckett University, take practical action to support greater numbers of academics, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, to engage with the media.
To meet the ambitious target, academics will be offered practical support such as knowledge and skills development, including free media and other training; and access to a peer-to-peer mentoring network. UA and its universities will proactively profile UA experts to the media, with an emphasis on profiling diverse voices through the platform. A new ‘Expert bank’ will be launched on UA’s website and hosted on ExpertFile, from which journalists and other media representatives can search for their chosen topic and select UA specialists from the field for comment.
The campaign will be launched at an online event taking place on 27 April, where a panel of speakers will address the importance of media diversity and how the higher education sector can take collective action to ensure greater representation in the academic voices within the media. Speaking at the event will be campaign champions, Professor Vini Lander – Professor of Race and Education, and Director of the Centre for Race, Education and Decoloniality at Leeds Beckett University, and Marverine Duffy, Course Director for Journalism and core member of the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity at Birmingham City University.
University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson said: “Central to UA’s mission is unlocking potential and e¬ffecting change, and through this campaign we hope to do our bit to help address the historic underrepresentation of diverse voices in the media.
"Our new Expert bank will make it easier for journalists to reach a diverse range of experts, and the peer network will ensure visibility of role models and accessible mentoring and guidance which along with the training sessions should make a big difference in supporting Alliance academics taking up media opportunities.
"This is an ambitious programme of work which will not only support more of our academics to engage with the media, but also raise the collective value and status of applied research undertaken by our universities.”