Vanessa Jackson moved into academia in 2008 following a career at the BBC as a programme maker. She is a senior lecturer and Course Director of the BA (Hons) Media Production at Birmingham City University. Her teaching includes teaching practical television skills to undergraduates. She completed her doctorate in 2018 at Royal Holloway under the supervision of Prof John Ellis. Her practice-based thesis explored how multi-media online platforms enable the telling of community histories. Whilst at the BBC, Vanessa worked as a series producer on factual and lifestyle programming, as well as documentary output. She was project manager on the BBC Coast series, winning the first BAFTA for Interactivity.
