Colleen Murrell

Colleen Murrell is a Full Professor at the School of Communications, Dublin City University (DCU), where she leads research on international news gathering, crisis reporting, and digital media. She holds a PhD in Media and Communications from the University of Melbourne and has held research fellowships at institutions including the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute. Her teaching focuses on audiovisual broadcasting, international news production, and journalism theory.

Educations:

• PhD in Media and Communications, University of Melbourne
• Prior career as a journalist with BBC, ITN, AP, and ABC Australia

Research Interests: Explores global journalism practices, including fixers’ roles in foreign correspondence, crisis reporting ethics, public service broadcasting, and online violence against journalists. Current projects include leading the Reuters Digital News Report (Ireland) 2021-2023 and writing a monograph on women foreign correspondents.

Publications: Over 50 peer-reviewed articles and books, including Foreign Correspondents and International Newsgathering: The Role of Fixers (2015) and a forthcoming Palgrave Macmillan monograph. Recent work addresses digital news trends, journalist resilience, and ethical challenges in conflict reporting.

Awards:

• Australian national teaching excellence citation
• Deakin University VC Award for Research
• Reuters Digital News Report Award 2024-2026

Advising & Grants: Supervised multiple PhD/Masters students, taught postgraduate research methods, and secured funding through DCU and external bodies like the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Served as external examiner for Queen’s University Belfast (2021-2023).

Labs/Teams: Editorial board member for Australian Journalism Review, Ethical Space, and Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies. Previously led Swinburne University’s journalism platform The Standard and judged UNAA Media Awards (2008-2017).