SATURDAY, 25TH MARCH 2023

Leona O’Neill

Head of Undergraduate Journalism at Ulster University

Leona O’Neill is head of Undergraduate Journalism at Ulster University after spending 24 years as a news journalist in Northern Ireland. She is a weekly newspaper columnist with the Irish News, a Field Producer for Vice, Al Jazeera, CBC and others. She is an avid campaigner for better mental health in newsrooms. In 2019 she was standing beside fellow journalist Lyra McKee when she was murdered by a dissident republican gunman during a riot in Derry. She faced months of harassment and intimidation following the incident and developed PTSD. She co-edited Breaking: Trauma in the Newsroom alongside the BBC’s Chris Lindsay.