My career as a journalist saw me covering stories for the BBC for 25 years - from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the historic 2010 election count. 

I started off in radio in the World Service Newsroom at Bush House. I worked as a senior manager in the BBC and then chose to go back to hands-on broadcasting with roles in BBC local radio as Bulletins Editor, Reporter and Producer of the flagship Breakfast programme. My live reporting of floods in Shropshire and my role as a producer of a special programme from Scarborough helped two stations make the shortlist for industry awards.

I taught an International Broadcast Journalism MA at Birmingham City University, before moving to Spain for five years where I edited an English language lifestyle magazine, covering anything from the history of flamenco and sherry, to homes & interiors or the two thousand-year-old art of fishing for tuna.

I then moved into Higher Education and was course leader for Journalism at Leeds Beckett University, helping to take the NSS score to 100% student satisfaction and securing accreditation from the Broadcast Journalism Training Council. I moved to York St John University as Subject Director in order to develop four new courses, including Media Production: Journalism and Media Production: Radio, which were successfully validated and launched. I also managed to secure BJTC accreditation for the new course in just its second year.

I now lead the MA Journalism programme at Leeds Trinity University, and teach both UG & PG journalism students across a range of areas, including radio, news, features, online & social media skills. I teach across both NCTJ and BJTC accredited courses.