BBC journalists hail success of University of Stirling partnership

Top journalists at the BBC have praised a successful partnership with the University’s Division of Communications, Media and Culture.

Shelley Jofre and Liam McDougall of the multi-award-winning BBC Scotland Disclosure team recently led a mentoring week for four Stirling students.

Robbie McAvenue, Logan Killiard, Keeva Miller and Ava-Lei O’Hagan went through a competitive application process before spending a week on work experience at BBC Scotland in Glasgow.

Shelley Jofre, Editor, Long Form Journalism at BBC Scotland said: “It’s been a another very successful year for our partnership with Stirling. I particularly enjoyed the story pitching sessions earlier this year, as the students had clearly put a lot of work into developing ideas that felt fresh and relatable to younger audiences.

“The four students who joined our team on work experience in May were impressive and engaged in learning all aspects of our production process. I also learned a lot from them in a reverse mentoring session, where they helped me see more clearly how we could adapt and improve in our own storytelling and choice of subjects, to reach younger and underserved audiences.”

The students worked with award-winning BBC journalists

Liam McDougall, a producer and director at BBC Scotland’s Disclosure said: “It was fantastic to have continued the BBC collaboration with the University of Stirling this year, giving the students a taste of real industry experience. Each of the teams produced very impressive work across the year for Disclosure.

“The four students who won a work experience place in the Disclosure team all shone during the placement and came with energy and a passion to learn and get involved – whether it was helping to develop investigations, writing content for our live broadcasts or gathering industry experience in the edit suites. It was a pleasure to have them as part of the team, and they are a credit to themselves and the university.”

The final year production students on the Film and Media and the Journalism courses also worked alongside investigative journalists Mark Daly, Sam Poling and Myles Bonnar.

Robbie McAvenue said: “Getting to actually carry out all of the skills I’ve picked up while at University was so rewarding – for instance getting to do research for esteemed broadcast journalists like Mark Daly and getting feedback from him that I can apply to my career beyond this opportunity.

“My absolute highlight of the week was hearing from Sam Polling and Liam McDougall – Sam has some absolutely mind-blowing stories that I’ll never forget, and I loved hearing about the reality of being an investigative journalist.”

Industry insight

Ava-Lei O’Hagan said: “Over the course of just one week at BBC Disclosure, I had the opportunity to gain insight, not only into the Disclosure team itself, but also into many other areas of the industry. Liam was excellent at asking us what we were interested in learning more about and arranging meetings with the appropriate people. During my time there, we visited the newsroom, broadcast studios, various stages of post-production and the social media departments, while also speaking with individuals working in a range of different roles.

“This experience gave me a much clearer understanding of the industry and helped me identify the type of work I would like to pursue in the future.”

Keeva Miller said: “We were involved in the day-to-day workings of Disclosure, helping with research and talking to different members of the team about their roles. We also were able to see other areas of the BBC including the newsroom, post-production and broadcast studios.

“The entire team were very welcoming and supportive, particularly Liam who ensured we saw all parts of the BBC that we were interested in. The experience has given me a much better sense of the areas in production and journalism that I would like to pursue in future.”

Exclusive opportunity

Professor Dario Sinforiani, Head of Production Teaching at the University of Stirling said: “We are delighted that four students from Stirling University were given this exclusive opportunity as part of our longstanding partnership with BBC Scotland.

“These were meaningful work experiences, giving students a taste of working within an investigative journalism team, an insight into broadcast production, and a real boost to their employment prospects.”