Search
photo of Lea Hellmueller

Dr Lea Hellmueller

Reader/Associate Professor in Journalism, Associate Dean (Research and Innovation)

School of Communication & Creativity Department of Journalism

Contact details

About

Overview

Lea Hellmueller is Associate Dean for Research and Innovation at City St George’s, University of London, where she provides strategic leadership and mentorship in advancing the research agenda within the School of Communication & Creativity. Lea is also a Reader (Associate Professor) in the Journalism Department and an Affiliate Researcher with the Violence & Society Centre.

Lea Hellmueller specializes in global journalism studies currently working on projects investigating digital threats including AI-generated misinformation to journalists, politicians and human rights defenders. She holds a consultancy appointment as senior research associate for the International Center for Journalists to establish an online violence alert and response system and works on a global UN Women survey on digital threats to women in public life.

Since 2024, she has been co-organiser of the MediaStrong symposium at City, an annual event developed in collaboration with leading media organizations including Sky News and Ulster University. The symposium addresses critical issues surrounding mental health and trauma in journalism and is live streamed to newsrooms globally.

Lea has most recently led the redesign and implementation of the Journalism Ethics curriculum, which is one of the most enrolled Master’s-level courses in the Journalism Department, attracting over 300 students annually across multiple programmes. As part of this pedagogical innovation, she has secured funding to develop a digital ethical decision-making toolkit for journalists reporting on crisis and conflict in collaboration with Dr Zahera Harb. The toolkit will soon be designed as a web-based application and aims to support both students and media practitioners in navigating complex ethical dilemmas in real-time reporting environments.

Lea has held leadership positions in academic associations including Head of the International Communication Division at AEJMC in the United States. Other positions included Secretary for the Global Communication and Social Change Division at the International Communication Association (ICA). In 2024, she became a Senior Fellow (SFHEA) in recognition of attainment against the UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and learning support in higher education.

For over a decade Lea has been involved in PhD mentorship and dissertation supervision in different countries (USA, Switzerland, UK). Her former PhD students went on to secure faculty positions in the US, Switzerland and the UK. 

In 2024-2025, she supported the launch of the ECR/PhD network at SCC which has been very active ever since.

Lea also serves as judge on award committees for the AEJMC Emerging Scholar Award, Best Dissertation award and AEJMC-Knudson Latin American Prize Book Award.

Before joining City in 2022, She was Assistant Professor at the University of Houston and Texas Tech University, and visiting professor at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) in 2017. She is also a former Fulbright researcher, recipient of two Swiss NSF fellowships and was a visiting fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford in 2019. She grew up in Switzerland and prior to joining academia worked as a journalist in Switzerland, South Africa, and the United States.

Lea Hellmueller is the author of The Washington, DC Media Corps in the 21st Century (Palgrave) and co-editor of Journalistic Role Performance: Concepts, Contexts, and Methods (Routledge). She is currently on the editorial boards of Journalism Practice and International Communication Gazette.

 

Awards

2024: Recognition for Outstanding Service and Dedication as Division Head, 2023-2024 (ICD, AEJMC)

2024: Top Reviewer Award, Global Communication and Social Change Division, ICA

2019: Faculty Research Award. Mass Communication & Society Research (MCS) Award from AEJMC

2018: Honorary Mention; Wolfgang Donsbach Outstanding Journal Article of the Year ICA / Journalism Studies Division

2018: Outstanding Research Award. School of Communication, University of Houston

2016: First Place Teaching Contest. International Communication Division Teaching Contest, AEJMC, 2016

2016: Top Faculty Paper. Third place in the 2016 Robert L. Stevenson Open Paper Competition of the International Communication Division (ICD)

of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

2016: Top Paper Award, International Communication Association 2016, Fukuoka (Japan) (Global Communication and Social Change Division)

Grants and Fellowships

2025: Co-PI: College of Radiographers Industrial Partnerships Scheme (CoRIPS) 

2023: Co-PI / BayIntAn: Bavarian Funding Programme for the Initiation of International Projects with Prof. Dr. Liane Rothenberger

2020: Research Progress Grant, University of Houston, Early Career (Principal Investigator)

2018: Swiss NSF (SNF) Short-Term Visiting Researcher Grant for Research Project on Media and Terrorism, University of Zurich (Switzerland)

2015-18 Swiss NSF (SNF) Grant on Journalistic Role Performance in Switzerland (International Collaborator)

2013 Recipient of 2013 Swiss NSF (SNF) Early Postdoctoral Fellowship

2011 Recipient of Swiss NSF (SNF) Fellowship for Prospective Researcher

2010 Recipient of Fulbright Scholarship

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. in Economics and Social Sciences, University of Fribourg (Switzerland), Department of Media and Communication Research, Dissertation co-supervision with University of Missouri-Columbia, USA, Switzerland / USA

Postgraduate training

  • Postdoc, University of Texas at Austin, United States, January - June 2013

Employment

  • Visiting Fellow, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, United Kingdom, September - December 2019
  • Visiting Professor, University of Zurich, Switzerland, August 2017 - January 2018
  • Visiting Researcher, Universidad Panamericana, Mexico, July - August 2017
  • Assistant Professor, University of Houston, United States, September 2016 - January 2022
  • Assistant Professor, Texas Tech University, United States, September 2013 - July 2016

Administrative role

  • Research Chair, International Communication Division, AEJMC, AEJMC, August 2021 - August 2022

Languages

English (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review), French (can read, write, speak, understand spoken), German (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review), Spanish - Latin American (can read, write, speak, understand spoken) and Swiss German; Alemannic; Alsatian (can read, write, speak, understand spoken, peer review)

Research students

Namrata Acharya

Attendance: October 2023 - present, full-time

Thesis title: Transformative climate justice and its interaction with development, viewed through the lens of alternative media in India

Role: 1st Supervisor

Publications

Publications by category

Books (2)

  • Mellado, C., Hellmueller, L. and Donsbach, W. (2016). Journalistic role performance: Concepts, contexts, and methods.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). The Washington, DC Media Corps in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan US. ISBN 9781349485482.

Chapters (21)

  • Rothenberger, L., Konow-Lund, M. and Hellmueller, L. (2023). Attempts on Conceptualizing Cross-Border Journalism. The Palgrave Handbook of Cross-Border Journalism (pp. 51-66). Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783031230226.
  • Blumell, L. and Hellmueller, L. (2022). Objectivity. In Borchard, G.A. (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Journalism Sage.
  • Raemy, P. and Hellmueller, L. (2021). Exploring Journalistic Cultures. In Dimitrova, D. (Ed.), Global Journalism Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
  • Eko, L. and Hellmueller, L. (2019). The Charlie Hebdo Terrorist Attack and European Journalistic Solidarity. The Charlie Hebdo Affair and Comparative Journalistic Cultures Human Rights Versus Religious Rites Springer Nature. ISBN 9783030180799.
  • Blumell, L. and Hellmueller, L. (2019). Celebrity Journalism. International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies Wiley.
  • Hellmueller, L., Cheema, S.E. and Zhang, X. (2017). The Networks of Global Journalism: Global news construction through the collaboration of global news startups with freelancers. (pp. 45-64).
  • In Mellado, C., Hellmueller, L. and Donsbach, W. (Eds.), (2016). Journalistic Role Performance. In Routledge.
  • Mellado, C., Hellmueller, L. and Donsbach, W. (2016). Journalistic role performance: A new research agenda in a digital and global media environment. Journalistic Role Performance Concepts Contexts and Methods (pp. 1-18).
  • Mellado, C., Hellmueller, L. and Weaver, D.H. (2016). Revisiting journalists' role conceptions research. Journalistic Role Performance Concepts Contexts and Methods (pp. 21-40).
  • Li, Y. and Hellmueller, L. (2016). Constructing news with audiences: A longitudinal study of CNN’s integration of participatory journalism. Routledge Companion to Digital Journalism Studies (pp. 335-344).
  • Hellmueller, L. (2015). Media structures and journalists’ truth-justification. In Vos, T.P. and Heindercyckx, F. (Eds.), Gatekeeping in Transition Routledge.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). Semi-Structured Interview Guide. WASHINGTON, DC MEDIA CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE SOURCE-CORRESPONDENT RELATIONSHIP (pp. 173-177). ISBN 9781137398598.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). Web Survey Instrument and IRB Approval. WASHINGTON, DC MEDIA CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE SOURCE-CORRESPONDENT RELATIONSHIP (pp. 149-171). ISBN 9781137398598.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). The Analytical Model of Transnational Journalism Culture. WASHINGTON, DC MEDIA CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE SOURCE-CORRESPONDENT RELATIONSHIP (pp. 135-148). ISBN 9781137398598.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). The DC Transnational Journalism Culture of the 21st Century. WASHINGTON, DC MEDIA CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE SOURCE-CORRESPONDENT RELATIONSHIP (pp. 117-134). ISBN 9781137398598.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). The Correspondents' Professional Worldviews of Their Interactions with Sources. WASHINGTON, DC MEDIA CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE SOURCE-CORRESPONDENT RELATIONSHIP (pp. 79-115). ISBN 9781137398598.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). News-Gathering and Sourcing Routines of DC Correspondents. WASHINGTON, DC MEDIA CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE SOURCE-CORRESPONDENT RELATIONSHIP (pp. 59-77). ISBN 9781137398598.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). Correspondents' Perceptions and Interactions with DC Sources. WASHINGTON, DC MEDIA CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE SOURCE-CORRESPONDENT RELATIONSHIP (pp. 17-57). ISBN 9781137398598.
  • Hellmueller, L. (2014). The Washington, DC Media Corps in the 21st Century The Source-Correspondent Relationship Introduction. WASHINGTON, DC MEDIA CORPS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE SOURCE-CORRESPONDENT RELATIONSHIP (pp. 1-+). ISBN 9781137398598.
  • Hellmueller, L. and Konow Lund, M. Transnational Journalism. International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies
  • Hellmueller, L. and Mellado, C. Journalistic Role Performance and the Networked Media Agenda: A Comparison between the United States and Chile. In Guo, L. and McCombs, M. (Eds.), The Power of Information Networks: New Directions for Agenda Setting Routledge.

Journal articles (39)

Reports (3)

Professional activities

Collaboration (academic)

Editorial activity (2)

  • Journalism Practice, Editoral Board, January 2021 - January 2025.
  • International Communication Gazette, Editorial Advisory Board, January 2021 - January 2025.