Professor Mel Bunce

Overview

Professor Mel Bunce is a university leader, researcher and international media commentator. She is currently the Deputy Dean of the School of Communication & Creativity at City, University of London, and she was previously the Head of City's renowned Department of Journalism. Her research focuses on journalism and democracy, media freedom and international journalism.

Mel's books include 'Capturing News, Capturing Democracy' (Oxford University Press, 2024), 'Humanitarian Journalists' (Routledge, 2022), 'The Broken Estate' (Bridget Williams, 2019) and 'Africa's Media Image in the 21st Century' (Routledge, 2016). She holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Her research seeks to improve and support journalism and democracy, and she has partnered with a wide range of news outlets, media development NGOs, multilateral organisations and governments on this work, including: UNESCO, UNOCHA, the FCDO, MSF, The New Humanitarian and Voice of America. Her research has been funded by grants from AHRC, ESRC, GCRF, ISRF and British Academy, among others. And it is regularly featured in the media, including on the BBC,Al Jazeera, NPR, The Financial Times, and The Guardian.

Mel is strongly committed to educating and supporting the next generation of researchers, journalists, public communicators and critical thinkers.

While head of City Journalism, Mel led 30 staff and 50 visiting lectures to increase student satisfaction and employability outcomes, to make City the top ranked department for journalism, media and commutation in the UK (Guardian University Guide, Complete University Guide). She also grew the department to have its largest and most international student body; launched new, interdisciplinary programmes, and secured foundation and philanthropic funding for scholarships, research and events to support and diversify the journalism industry.

She was previously the Director of the BA Journalism programme at City University, and she has taught and evaluated students across the BA, MA and PhD level in journalism, media studies, and political science.

Before joining City, Mel taught at Birkbeck, University of London and at the University of Otago. She also worked as a columnist / media commentator in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand.

Qualifications

• DPhil in Politics (No corrections), University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 2013
• MPhil in Development Studies, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
• BA (Hons) in Political Science & English (first class), University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Fellowships

• Senior Fellow, Higher Education Association

Awards

• Trans-Atlantic Platform/ESRC grant (2025). Democracy and Independent Journalism (Principle Investigator for 'Team UK')
• AHRC (2024). International aid and the media: Improving the effectiveness of aid allocation
• AHRC/GCRF Urgency Grant (2020). "Promoting Media Freedom in a time of Crisis" (Principal Investigator)
• International Communications Association (2020). Wolfgang Donsbach Outstanding Article of the Year Award
  For the best research article on journalism published in any journal in the year 2019.
• International Communications Association (2019). Top faculty paper, Journalism Studies Division
• University of East Anglia (2019). Best ‘Research Impact in Policy and Practice’ award
• The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) (2018). African Journalism Studies Best Paper Award, International Communication Division
• International Communication Association (2016). Best paper or panel on Africa, Global Communication Division

Research Grants

2020 GCRF/AHRC Urgency Grant - “Promoting media freedom in a time of crisis” (Principal Investigator)

2018 British Academy, Visiting Research Fellowship

2016 AHRC, “What is Humanitarian News?” (Co-Investigator)

2015 Independent Social Research Foundation, Small group grant (Co-Investigator)

2014 British Academy, “Changing International News Coverage of Africa” (Principal Investigator)

Publications by category