LJMU hosts Association of Journalism Education summer conference

Written by JMU Journalism Liverpool Life
June 28, 2024
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The Association of Journalism Education Summer Conference 2024 at LJMU’s Redmonds Building

Academics from around the UK and far beyond visited LJMU’s Redmonds Building as Liverpool hosted the Association of Journalism Education’s (AJE) annual summer conference.

The two-day AJE event was preceded by an additional symposium focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and how this can be incorporated into the teaching of journalism at higher education level. All of the sessions across the programmes attracted significant and highly-engaged audiences.

The overall theme at the AJE gathering centred on ‘transformations’ and ‘transitions’ in the industry, with emphasis on ways that university courses and assignments can be designed, delivered and assessed to support the various challenges and opportunities that these represent.

The keynote speaker at the summer conference was the Guardian’s North of England Correspondent, Robyn Vinter, on why the lack of social diversity is a problem within the media.

Dr Lada Trifonova Price, a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Sheffield and the AJE’s Chair, said: “First of all, thank you [LJMU] for hosting us. It’s always great and we rely on the institutions for their generosity with hosting and providing the space for us to gather together.

Robyn Vinter of the Guardian delivers the keynote address at the AJE Summer Conference at LJMU’s Redmonds Building. Photo courtesy of @TheAJEUK / X
Robyn Vinter of the Guardian delivers the keynote address at the AJE Summer Conference at LJMU’s Redmonds Building. Photo courtesy of @TheAJEUK / X

“This is the only event that we have that’s actually in person as the rest are organised online. It’s a great opportunity for people to meet and the best thing that happens is not so much in the lecture theatre, but outside with all these conversations where we see some old faces and new faces.

“When I talk to people and ask ‘what did you take out of this?’ they say that it’s the supportive, friendly environment and sharing of best practice, finding out what everybody else is doing. Also, knowing if it’s your first time presenting or just starting on a project, you’re going to find a friendly face and somebody to say ‘well, how about that… have you considered this?’ without any punishing questions or anything like that.”

Speaking about the EDI conference, Fran Yeoman, Programme Leader for Journalism at Liverpool John Moores University, said: “We had two big topics on the agenda, both of which are central to what we try to do at JMU Journalism; how do we train the next generation of reporters to be inclusive in their reporting, and how do we work with major media industry players to diversify the journalism workforce and ensure equality of opportunity for talented young people whatever their backgrounds.

“Both are massive challenges and the conference was a great opportunity for our team to share ideas with other educators, senior working journalists and our own students.”

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