Dr François Nel
Reader (Associate Professor) in Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Spurred by his international experience in journalism, François researches the individual choices and environmental factors that impact the performance of news media organisations around the world. He translates these insights into practical guidance that helps entrepreneurial individuals, innovative organisations and forward-thinking policymakers drive positive change.
In 2013, he was named a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In the same year, he became the first digital media specialist to be elected a Fellow of the European Entrepreneurship Educators Programme (3EP). He is among a select group of 25 UK academics and only 75 across Europe to receive this prestigious fellowship, which supports and develops enterprise education.
He is based in the School of Arts and Media, where he teaches a range of practical and theoretical journalism courses and supervises PhD research on innovation and sustainability. He is also a member of the Media Innovation Studio team, which created and delivers the pioneering Journalism Innovation and Leadership Programme.
He was previously a Visiting Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. He is a founding partner of the Innovation Research Group and serves on the leadership team of the University of Lancashire’s Research Centre for Digital Life.
François describes himself as a boundary spanner between academia and industry. He co-founded the Digital Editors Network (UK) and, in 2007, became the first academic invited to join the World Editors Forum of WAN-IFRA (the World Association of News Publishers). He continues to collaborate with WAN-IFRA as editor of the World Press Trends and Outlook reports.
He has initiated several ongoing studies on the sustainability of news media, as well as the role the industry plays in the social and economic development of communities, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda. He is the author of two books published by Oxford University Press, along with more than 40 book chapters, journal articles, papers and industry reports. His work has appeared in publications including Journalism Practice, Journalism Studies, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, the Nordic Journal of Media Management and the Newspaper Research Journal.
He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Media Management and Entrepreneurship.
François was born in Zimbabwe and educated in the United States, South Africa and the UK, where he earned his PhD in Journalism from City, University of London. He continues to work globally from his base in Manchester and takes his Brompton bike with him wherever he can.
