YOUR #WIM25 FUTURE FOCUSED LINE UP AND BIOS
Some of our WIM 25 contributors for our upcoming November 18 event in the Great Hall at QUB including END VAWG speaker Niall McNally pictured with his late sister Natalie and their mother Bernie.
SOME WIM 25 collaborators and sponsors
Hello all.
Get your tickets for WIM 25 Future Focused at QUB Great Hall on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-media-belfast-annual-ireland-and-britain-media-summit-tickets
Here is the line up for our November 18 event…
LINE UP AND BIOS
WIMB director and journalist NIAMH CAMPBELL is your host for the day.
There will be a few words from WIMB cofounder, commentator, and columnist PATRCIA MACBRIDE who will also take care of ‘housekeeping’ and introduces our first speaker.
QUB
A welcome from QUB to the magnificent Great Hall. Hearing from DR GIZEM MELEK who is a Senior Lecturer School of Arts, English & Languages. Gizem’s academic research primarily explores the interplay between media and politics, with a focus on journalism, media effects, political communication, and climate change communication. She has published articles in several top-tier peer-reviewed journals, including Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, Visual Studies, and Visual Communication. Her research agenda embrace five main strands: agenda-setting and the influence of journalism on public opinion; the role of visuals in journalism and political communication; climate change communication with a focus on the role of emotions and framing in shaping climate policy support; media's framing strategies in times of crises; and agenda-setting and framing practices in coverage of female athletes and their self-framing/self presentation strategies on social media.
GIVE INC
Give Inc Women’s Fund (GIWF) is our nominated good cause for November 18. Dorcas Crawford and Callie Persic will be answering questions about philanthropy, and the importance of women supporting women.
DR CALLIE PERSIC is a Development Manager in the City Regeneration & Development team in Belfast City Council where she spearheads the city’s new vision and transformative placemaking, mobility and connectivity initiatives. She brings innovation and creativity to projects by working collaboratively across sectors and communities to find solutions to the challenges facing Belfast. She is the Chair of Council’s Women’s Network and is passionate about the gendered nature of public space and the importance of lived experience to shape inclusive, equitable and sustainable places.Dorcas is a conflict management consultant. Having practiced as a solicitor in a leading Belfast Law Firm for over 30 years, whilst also practicing as a mediator, she now provides mediation and facilitation services through The Better Way’, a specialist workplace conflict management service. She delivers a range of facilitated workshops for business leaders and to Public and 3rd Sector organisations to help them develop competence and confidence in conflict management and building a healthy workplace culture using mediation skills.
DORCAS CRAWFORD is a conflict management consultant. Having practiced as a solicitor in a leading Belfast Law Firm for over 30 years, whilst also practicing as a mediator, she now provides mediation and facilitation services through The Better Way’, a specialist workplace conflict management service. She delivers a range of facilitated workshops for business leaders and to Public and 3rd Sector organisations to help them develop competence and confidence in conflict management and building a healthy workplace culture using mediation skills. Dorcas is passionate about helping organisations to manage conflict in a proactive way to avoid the financial and human cost that unmanaged conflict brings. A TEDx speaker, Dorcas is also a regular speaker at business events and conferences. Dorcas is President of Lean In Ireland and a committed supporter of Bowel Cancer UK. She is also an ambassador for Community Foundation NI and has been a member of the Give Inc Giving Circle for some years.
You will have the chance to join the GIWF giving circle as a member, or make a one off donation.
THE WOMEN’S PANEL
This panel will explore reporting from a small jurisdiction, shared island/s media collaboration and initiatives, amplifying women’s voices, media safety locally and internationally, freelancing and more. It will include reps from Women in Journalism Scotland, Women on Air, Women in Media Belfast & the NUJ.
ALISON O’CONNOR is a journalist, broadcaster and author. She writes a weekly column for The Sunday Times. As a current affairs commentator she appears regularly on radio and television. She has worked previously as a political correspondent for The Irish Times and Irish Independent, as well as a columnist for The Irish Examiner and The Business Post. She is an author and her most recent book "It's a Yes", co written with the directors of the It's a Yes campaign, examined the hugely successful, female-led, Repeal the 8th campaign.
CATRIONA STEWART is a journalist, columnist, commentator and broadcaster based in Glasgow specialising in politics, court, crime and social affairs. She has written for regional and national titles, is a regular contributor to BBC Scotland, Times Radio and is a paper reviewer for Sky News. Catriona is a founding member of Women in Journalism Scotland and currently serves as vice-chair of the organisation.
ANNA BURNSIDE is chair of Women in Journalism Scotland. She has worked in newspapers for 35 years, starting as a reporter at the Gorgie-Dalry Gazette in Edinburgh and ending as chief writer at the Daily Record. In between she has worked at Scotland on Sunday, the Sunday Herald and the Sunday Times. She has been a local paper editor, a sub-editor, a magazine editor, an award-winning feature writer, a restaurant reviewer ... basically she can play any position on the park. She is currently writing a substack, The Hairy Eyeball, and teaching at Strathclyde University.
AMANDA FERGUSON is a north Belfast woman and freelance journalist working as a Northern Ireland Correspondent and Ireland Stringer for newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, and digital outlets. Since 2010 Amanda has been part of Ireland, UK, and international teams as an in demand writer, broadcaster, commentator, trainer, fixer, event panellist and host. She is on the National Executive Council of the National Union of Journalists, a cofounder of Women in Media Belfast CIC, chair of the Give Inc Women's Fund, a Social Change Initiative fellow, and a media awards judge.
THE MEN’S PANEL
A first for WIMB. This year’s event is on the eve of International Men’s Day so we have invited our colleagues and allies to talk to you all.
Panel chair KURTIS REID is a Belfast Telegraph journalist from north Belfast. He specialise in digital news covering crime, politics, business and entertainment. He is also a technology columnist. His extensive coverage of landmark cases in Northern Ireland, with technology elements including most recently the Alexander McCartney ‘Newry Catfish’ case, which documented how a man from Northern Ireland became one of the world’s most notorious sexual online predators. He covers Northern Ireland’s growing tech space and has worked closely with the world’s biggest tech brands including Apple, Google and Samsung. His coverage has lead to him contributing to conferences in Lisbon and Paris. An emerging broadcaster, credits include RTE, TalkTV, LBC and Virgin One, The BelTel, The Indo Daily and The Big Tech Show podcasts.
LEE COSTELLO is a freelance sports journalist who specialises in GAA and boxing, covering major events in both sports for The Belfast Telegraph, Irish Independent, BBC, JOE.ie, Balls.ie, and The Irish Examiner. His journey into journalism began back in 2015 as part of the first BBC Digital Journalist Apprenticeship scheme. There were 10 places available on the scheme, five based in London, two in Salford, and one in each of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Lee secured the Northern Ireland spot and spent the next first 18 months studying the NCTJ diploma in England, while also doing various work placements in the Belfast newsroom, Evening Extra, BBC Sport, Nolan Live, BBC Three and TalkBack. Lee took a permanent job in the BBC digital team for five years before leaving the national broadcast to join JOE.ie as a sports journalist, covering a variety of sports and presenting the popular GAA Hour podcast. In 2024 Lee made the decision to start his own GAA podcast, (The Puke Football Podcast) and go freelance, writing a weekly column for The Belfast Telegraph and writing about the two sports that he is most passionate about.
JUDE COPELAND is a leading lawyer in AI and emerging legal technologies at Cleaver Fulton Rankin Solicitors and serves as Chair of the Law Society of Northern Ireland Cybersecurity, Data Protection, and Emerging Technologies Sub-Group. He was part of the design and implementation of the first diversity and inclusion survey of the solicitor profession. Jude has written and spoken widely on LGBTQIA+ rights and history, all over the UK and Ireland, in traditional media, and to businesses, charities and grassroots organisations. He is a trusted adviser to a number of charities and pride/sector organisations. Jude is currently campaigning for a memorial in Portrush to Mark Ashton, the activist who is featured in the 2015 film Pride. He has volunteered with the LGBTQIA Heritage Project from its conception and has been involved in securing at risk heritage. He was a consultant to BBC’s Blood on the Dancefloor on the murder of Constable Darren Bradshaw. Jude was a founding trustee of the White Ribbon Project NI (a campaign to end gender-based violence) and has served as a trustee of PIPS Suicide Prevention. This year, Jude was awarded the Belfast Pride Activist award, was Highly Commended as a Male Ally at the Women in Tech Awards and has been shortlisted for an Ireland-wide award for voluntary service.
PETER MCVERRY is the U105 station manager and chair of the Radio Academy in Northern Ireland.
HOW THE MEDIA HANDLES ‘STORIES’
VICTORIA JOHNSTON is the News Editor of The Impartial Reporter, a multi-award-winning local newspaper and the current UK weekly newspaper of the year based in Enniskillen. She has built a strong reputation for breaking exclusive, agenda-setting news stories and investigations with particular focus on social justice issues. When she is not in the newsroom, Victoria is a keen amateur actor and a volunteer Brownie leader with Girlguiding Ulster.
SALLY REES is an educator and arts facilitator, with 30 years experience teaching and leading Drama and Performing Arts. Sally began her teaching career in England, returning home to Fermanagh to raise her family in 2006. Sally is Leader of Learning for Creative and Expressive Arts at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, and is a passionate advocate for the arts inside and outside of the classroom. In 2016 Sally and a colleague were upskirted by a pupil in their school. Supported by The Teachers’ Union NASUWT, they faced a long protected legal battle for justice which attracted national media attention. Subsequently, Sally and the NASUWT led a successful campaign to introduce legislation in Northern Ireland to make Upskirting a criminal sexual offence. Driven by her experience Sally became an active Trade Unionist at local, regional and national level across Ireland and the UK. She was the Northern Ireland President of the NASUWT from 2024-2025, and is currently on secondment for a further year with the NASUWT. She also sits on the Women’s Committee and the Arts and Culture Committee for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Sally continues to lobby, campaign and advocate against sexual violence and harassment in all its forms.
END VAWG
NIALL MCNALLY is a ‘Justice for Natalie McNally’ campaigner who is seeking justice for his sister Natalie. Natalie was murdered, while pregnant, in her home in 2022. He is passionate about justice for his sister and the wider theme of ending violence against women and girls.
BELFAST MET COLLEGE
The Met’s Journalism & Documentary and Sports Media students led by course director and broadcaster Lynda Bryans will do an audio visual presentation showing everyone what they have been up to over the last year.
That’s all for now.
So, get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-media-belfast - and let us know if you have any accessibility or dietary requirements!
WIM 24
WIMB events wouldn’t happen without our events team. Check out the WIM25 team here.
WIMB events also wouldn’t happen without the generosity of our sponsors. Thanks to Queen’s University Belfast, the Irish Government Secretariat in Belfast, U105, the National Union of Journalists, Aiken PR, and Jawbox Gin
Here’s what they said….
A QUB spokeswoman said: "In our 180th year, it’s more important than ever that Queen’s champions platforms like Women in Media Belfast - amplifying women’s voices and building a strong sense of community. As a university known for hosting the crucial conversations that shape our world, we’re proud to welcome Women in Media Belfast back to the Great Hall for a second year, bringing bold voices together to spark dialogue and shape the future of media."
Claire Aiken, Managing Director, AIKEN, said “The Future Focused Women in Media summit marks a pivotal moment for the industry. By convening voices from across the UK and Ireland, it aims to spark dialogue, inspire innovation, and champion inclusivity. This year’s theme underscores a commitment to reshaping media through collaboration, representation, and bold ideas. AIKEN is proud to lend its support.”
Jawbox Gin Gerry White said: “It is always a pleasure to provide some jaw-droppingly refreshing Jawbox Gin serves to the participants of the wonderful and inspiring, WIMB CIC events. See you there.”
