12 June 2008

Research grant to research the researchers

A senior lecturer within Sheffield University’s Department of Journalism Studies has obtained funding to research the ways in which former journalists who become academics are able to adapt to the demands of higher education.

Tony Harcup, who has gained one of only two bursaries awarded annually by the Association for Journalism Education (AJE), will examine how journalists have achieved the transition and become successful academic researchers.

He said: “I hope the findings of this study will be of particular value to those journalists who teach journalism but who have not yet become active researchers. I believe that, by combining their own experience and contacts with more formal academic methods, such journalists can offer a unique insight into how the media work.”