MA Visual Journalism & Storytelling
The University of Bolton,
Greater Manchester
PRACTICE-BASED
Hands-on learning
AWARD-WINNING STUDENTS
World Press Photo, George Polk, Peabody Awards
Single Year Master's Degree
The University of Bolton Greater Manchester. A Guardian top 30 University
Your future in visual Media
Powerful images, whether they appear in print, online, or on television, capture the world's attention. They inform, illuminate, and evoke powerful emotions, shaping our understanding of the world. This is especially true in today's media landscape, where visuals play a central role in driving news coverage and audience engagement.
Online and social platforms have revolutionised visual storytelling, from ephemeral social stories to long-form digital interactives to online documentaries. To thrive in this evolving environment, our intensive, practice-focused programs equip students with the high-demand visual and multimedia skills needed across journalism, media, and communication sectors.
Our aim is to guide and support students with strong aspirations every step of the way, both during studies and after graduation. We aim to empower them to create visual stories that inform and influence audiences. Class numbers are limited to ensure a high degree of personalised attention during seminars, workshops and project supervision.
Watch this video for an overview of the MA Visual Journalism & Storytelling program at the University of Greater Manchester, UK. This video offers a glimpse into the curriculum and features firsthand experiences from our graduates.
Watch this video for an overview of the MA Visual Journalism & Storytelling program at the University of Greater Manchester, UK. This video offers a glimpse into the curriculum and features firsthand experiences from our graduates.
APPLY NOW!
Applications are open! We welcome applications from the UK and worldwide. Visit the course page for details about entry requirements, the application process and fees & funding. For further inquiries, contact Sharron Lovell (S.Lovell@Bolton.ac.uk).
Course Overview
Master the art of visual storytelling
Our MA Visual Journalism and Storytelling program, delivered in Bolton, Greater Manchester, UK, trains you in the cornerstones of visual journalism. Combining photography, video, reporting, writing, and multimedia, this course offers you maximum agility for telling non-fiction stories across platforms with the greatest impact.
Take a look at our module structure in the interactive image below to see how the program unfolds over three semesters. Just click on the red buttons to see module descriptions. We also offer a foundational camera proficiency course to help students build basic camera competency before diving into the core curriculum.
Bursaries & Scholarships
The University of Bolton in Greater Manchester is proud to offer a comprehensive financial support service. This includes a range of bursaries and scholarships for international and home students on postgraduate courses.
- Home Students: Scholarships & Bursaries
- International Students: Scholarships & Bursaries
- For more information on funding & scholarships, please visit The University of Bolton website (https://www.bolton.ac.uk)
AWARD-WINNING graduates & Staff
The MA in Visual Journalism & Storytelling, offered on campus at The University of Bolton, Greater Manchester since 2022, builds upon the legacy of our former off-campus MA in Multimedia Journalism program in Beijing, China. Graduates have gone on to win prestigious World Press Photo, George Polk, Peabody awards and more, as photographers, video journalists and documentary filmmakers. Here's a taster of some of their most notable achievements.
Natalie Thomas (Graduate) Won a George Polk Award in 2021 for Foreign Reporting with CNN for coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. Natalie and her team were recognised for “giving much of the world its first on-the-scene look at the dangers posed by the coronavirus and the Chinese efforts to control its spread". Natalie now works for Reuters in London.
Natalie Thomas and CNN teammates won a George Polk with her reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China.
Natalie Thomas and CNN teammates won a George Polk with her reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China.
Raqib Hameed Naik: Shortlisted for the 2021 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award's Environmental Prize for his coverage of dam construction in Kashmir. Raqib works as a multimedia journalist and is founder of Hindutva Watch, a hate tracker that documents the rise of Hindu nationalism and the persecution of religious minorities in India. The project has been described by The Washington Post as one of India's only and most comprehensive real-time datasets of hate crimes.
Raqib Hameed Naik was shortlisted for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award's Environmental Prize for his coverage of rampant dam construction in Kashmir.
Raqib Hameed Naik was shortlisted for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award's Environmental Prize for his coverage of rampant dam construction in Kashmir.
DJ Clark: DJ Clark, our current industry advisor, won World Press Photo Interactive of the Year and was nominated for a Webby Award for his immersive 360 film "Battleground PolyU."
See a full list of awards here.
Prioritising employability
Industry links
Our course is taught by an accomplished team of practicing visual journalists and communicators with global networks. These connections help us support students and graduates in finding internships, freelance opportunities, and jobs. Our master's degree is further bolstered by links with a number of media organisations, offering students a wealth of benefits: guest lectures, industry feedback on project work, and exposure to real-world media practices.
Real-world experience starts here!
We encourage, coach, and create opportunities for students to pitch and publish their work during the program in a wide range of local, national, and international media organisations. Here are some recent examples of professionally published work made on the program:
- Barrel Children of the Windrush Generation: Untold Story, by Jadesola Omotade, is a short-form documentary that explores the intimate stories of three Barrel Children (children left in the Caribbean by Windrush migrants who sent supplies back in barrels). The film has been screened in a number of venues.
- Lithuania's Roma struggle to find new homes after mass eviction, by Giedrė Peseckytė, follows a Roma community’s struggle to find new homes. The long-form text, photo and video piece was published by Aljazeera and Nara a multimedia publication co-founded by graduate student Berta Tilmantaitė.
- What is it like to be Black in China?, by Daisy and Siyu Chen, is a short-form opinion-style video providing a rare glimpse into the lives of China’s diverse Black community. This mini-documentary was published by Arrow Factory, the film unit of Jiemian.
- How better migration management is reducing xenophobia in the canary islands, by Amalie Klitgaard is a long-form multimedia story exploring recent ebbs and flows of hostility and racism toward migrants in Spain - and the forces that impact them.
- Why Young Chinese are removing their tattoos, by Wang Yiping and Zhang Mengyu covers the growing trend of tattoo removal in China. The story was published in Sixth Tone.
- Kindergarten's new normal under Covid-19, by Shan Fanqin covers the reopening of kindergartens in her hometown in central China focusing on how it influences the lives of teachers and children. The video was published by CGTN
Where possible, we work on live briefs with professional media professionals and organisations. This includes intensive practical boot camps, where students work in small teams in the field alongside professionals who coach and direct them. We've partnered with a number of organisations including CGTN and China Daily and published a variety of class projects with diverse themes including disability issues, women in China's contemporary urban workforce, China's start-up companies. During the pandemic, the class decided to make a virtual visual tour of Beijing.
11-year-old Mingming, one of roughly 12 million visually-impaired people living in China, tells us about his life and what he wants to be when he grows up. | 1 of 6 short student films created in partnership with China Daily.
11-year-old Mingming, one of roughly 12 million visually-impaired people living in China, tells us about his life and what he wants to be when he grows up. | 1 of 6 short student films created in partnership with China Daily.
View more published student work here
Graduates
Our graduates go on to thrive in a variety of exciting careers.
After successfully completing this postgraduate degree, you'll be prepared for a wide choice of career options in the rapidly transforming media industry, including staff and freelance positions as visual journalists, photographers, camera operators, video editors, and producers. Our graduates work across a wide range of industries, including journalism, documentary, and charity/non-profit communications, as well as teaching, PR, corporate communications, content management, marketing, and even launching their own media ventures.
The following are just a few examples of the diverse and successful careers pursued by our alumni:
Amalie Klitgaard
Video Journalist and Social Media Editor at Tingenes Verden. Tingenes Verden is a new, independent Danish media that aims to critically and constructively cover the lives of young people in the Global South for a young Danish audience.
Lester Xu
Director of C-Lab at China Global Television Network (CGTN). Lester first worked at CGTN as a multimedia reporter, then as Director of Multimedia Production. He is currently the Director of CGTN's Creative Lab, a digital innovation incubator using cutting-edge technology such as 5G, AI, and VR to explore new ways of telling stories.
Biel Calderon
Video Producer at the UNHCR Regional Communications Hub, Americas Bureau. Since graduation, Biel has worked in both journalism and communications. Before joining UNHCR he held the position of Regional Multimedia Producer at Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
Shuo (Daisy) Xu
Multimedia Editor at CGTN. Daisy landed her first job at CGTN this year after graduation. She produces video and visual content for CGTN's broadcast and social media platforms.
Mark Esplin
Photojournalist for CNN International. Mark worked as a freelance photo and video journalist based in Istanbul before taking a staff position at CNN Paris.
Olivia Zhang
Video Producer at The Associated Press. As well as her demanding job with The AP, Olivia also occasionally freelances as a Multimedia Content Producer for UNICEF China.
Jeff Kennel
Director of Multimedia for Americares. Jeff works with Americares, a large NGO in the international disaster relief and health sector. Jeff also teaches photography workshops for National Geographic's Student Expeditions in the summer.
Derek Arthur
Associate Producer, Opinion Audio at The New York Times. While most students go on to work in visual journalism or communications, some transfer their storytelling skills to other mediums. Derek interned and then landed a job at NPR. He is now with the superlative NYT audio team.
Berta Tilmantaite
Multimedia journalist, visual artist, and founder of NARA. NARA is a Lithuanian-based multimedia publication produced by a collective of journalists and media professionals. Berta also works as a freelance multimedia journalist, photographer, and lecturer.
Staff
We are staffed by a passionate, industry-engaged team.
Sharron Lovell | Course leader / Senior Lecturer
Sharron is a passionate journalist with bylines in prestigious publications like The Guardian, National Geographic, and The Wall Street Journal. She has extensive experience as a photo and video contributor for organizations like UNICEF and UNHCR, and has led workshops internationally. Her research focuses on participatory and engagement journalism.
Accomplishments:
- Bylines in The Guardian, National Geographic, Newsweek, PBS Newshour, Politiken, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, and The Financial Times.
- Photo and video contributor for UNICEF, UNHCR & War Child UK.
- Led visual journalism trainings in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Bangkok, and Malaysia.
Cathy Otten | Senior Lecturer
Cathy is an award-winning writer and journalist. The Los Angeles Review of Books praised her book With Ash On Their Faces: Yezidi Women and the Islamic State, as 'the best kind of humanist journalism: lucid, transparent, grimly realistic. ... No book has covered it better.' Cathy currently leads the Journalism Initiative on Gender-Based Violence at Rutgers University. Additionally, she holds a Visiting Global Associate position at the Institute for Women's Leadership. She is a former reporter for the Independent and has written for The Guardian, Foreign Policy, BBC, Politico, the New Yorker and more. In 2018, she won the One World Media New Voice Award and was a finalist for the Kurt Schork Courage in Journalism Award.
Accomplishments:
- Author of "With Ash On Their Faces: Yezidi Women and the Islamic State" (OR Books 2017)
- Winner of the One World Media New Voice Award (2018)
- Finalist for the Kurt Schork Courage in Journalism Award (2018)
- Former reporter for The Independent
- Contributor to The Guardian, Foreign Policy, BBC, Politico, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and more.
Gemma Thorpe | Senior Lecturer
Gemma Thorpe is a documentary photographer and filmmaker with a passion for exploring themes of identity and belonging. Her background in Geography led her to photography as a way to visualize the connection between people and place. She has extensive experience creating factual content for various clients and community organizations, specializing in photography, film, and audio. Gemma has lived and worked in China for a significant period, and her first feature documentary, "Shanghai Blues," is currently in production. She's also expanding her storytelling skills into immersive formats, developing an AR Trail in Sheffield as part of the StoryTrails initiative.
Accomplishments:
- Extensive experience as a documentary photographer and filmmaker.
- Expertise in using photography, film, and audio for factual content creation.
- First feature documentary, "Shanghai Blues," currently in production.
- Developed an AR Trail in Sheffield as part of StoryTrails.
D J Clark | Industry Advisor
D J is the Multimedia Director at China Daily Asia Pacific and the host/producer of the adventure travel show "Drone & Phone." In 2020, his film "Battleground PolyU" garnered international recognition, winning seven awards including World Press Photo Interactive of the Year and a Webby nomination. As both a practitioner and researcher, DJ has a deep interest in the power of visual journalism to create positive change in developing countries.
Accomplishments:
- Multimedia Director at China Daily Asia Pacific
- Host and producer of the adventure travel show "Drone & Phone"
- Director of "Battleground PolyU" (winner of seven international awards including World Press Photo Interactive of the Year)
Guest Speakers
Guest Speakers are a vital part of our program. Students attend the superlative weekly Talking Photography Guest Speaker series, organised by The University of Bolton's Photo Department. In addition, we have hosted talks, seminars, and workshops by renowned professionals like:
- Sean Gallagher (Photographer & Filmmaker)
- Kassy Cho (Journalist & Social Media Strategist)
- Ali Arkady (Artist, Photographer, & Filmmaker)
- Sim Chiyin (Artist)
- Jonah Kessel (Deputy Director of Opinion Video, The New York Times)
Sharron Lovell | Course Leader / Senior Lecturer
Sharron Lovell | Course Leader / Senior Lecturer
Cathy Otten | Senior Lecturer
Cathy Otten | Senior Lecturer
Gemma Thorpe | Senior Lecturer
Gemma Thorpe | Senior Lecturer
DJ Clark | Industry Advisor
DJ Clark | Industry Advisor
Tasters, Individual Sessions & Campus Tours
While we don't currently have any upcoming Taster Sessions scheduled, we offer alternative ways for prospective students to explore the program and learn if it's a good fit:
- Individual Information Session (Online or On Campus): Book a one-on-one session with the course leader to discuss the program in detail and ask questions. Choose an online meeting or an on-campus meeting at your convenience. Contact Sharron Lovell at S.Lovell@bolton.ac.uk
- Guided Campus Tour / Information Session: Explore the Photo and Media departments at The University of Bolton campus and get a feel for the learning environment. Discuss the program with staff members during your tour.
- College or Vocational School Taster Session: Representatives from colleges or vocational schools with media, photography, or filmmaking programs in the local area can request a visit from Sharron Lovell, our course leader, to speak to students about the program.
- For all bookings, contact Sharron Lovell at S.Lovell@bolton.ac.uk
We're here to help you make an informed decision. Feel free to reach out and connect with us!
Contact Us
Have a Question?
Our Visual Journalism and Media master's degrees team is here to help! Prospective students are welcome to contact Sharron Lovell to discuss the programs in more detail before applying.
Sharron Lovell
S.Lovell@bolton.ac.uk
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