New Director appointed for Liverpool Screen School
LJMU has appointed Graham Roberts as the first Director of the Liverpool Screen School and its Professor of Screen Industries.
Graham Roberts is currently Director of the Institute of Communication Studies at the University of Leeds; he will join LJMU in July 2008.
The appointment marks an important step forward in the development of the Liverpool Screen School, which was launched in 2006 by LJMU Honorary Professor and co-founder of Mersey Television, Phil Redmond.
Encompassing all forms of digital media, the Liverpool Screen School offers practice-based education and training on all aspects of TV, film, journalism, radio and news production as well as computer games, interactive media and animation.
The calibre of these programmes and the University's close connections with the media industry were recognised in December 2007, when LJMU became the North West's only Skillset Media Academy.
Professor Roger Webster, Dean of LJMU's Faculty of Media Arts and Social Sciences, said: "Graham is joining us at a very exciting time. Not only are we the only University in the North West to secure Skillset Media Academy status but we are also finalising plans for a new state of the art building to accommodate the Liverpool Screen School. Graham will play a key role in positioning the School and the University at the forefront of media education and training, producing highly skilled and creative practitioners."
Graham Roberts responded, saying: "There were lots of reasons why I wanted to come here. Liverpool is an exciting city and LJMU's new focus on world of work skills means that it is setting a new agenda for professional education. Most importantly, I am really excited by the whole Screen School development. Having the opportunity to shape the facilities of this new building was too good an opportunity not to seize. I've seen the basic blueprint and I've already started to formulate ideas.
"For me the key issue is to get everyone working together, across the different media platforms, rather than in little silos. Whether you're a film maker or a journalist, it's all about story telling and by working together we create bigger and better things."
The Liverpool Screen School already has the backing of organisations such as the BBC, Granada, FACT, EMAP and Trinity Mirror.
Now, with the development of MediaCity:UK in Salford, LJMU is well positioned to ensure that the North West as a whole and Liverpool in particular have the skilled and creative practitioners the digital media industry needs in order to capitalise on emerging opportunities and technological developments.
Dr Roberts added: "MediaCity:UK is going to be enormously important in terms of generating new employment and refocusing attention away from inside the M25. But anyone who lives or works in Liverpool and believes that Manchester alone will become the hub of media activity in the North West should think again.
"Historically, creatively, economically, it's got to be Liverpool and through the Liverpool Screen School, LJMU will be able to work even more closely with the sector to make sure that this happens."
Picture: LJMU's new Professor of Screen Industries, Graham Roberts, pictured holding the Skillset Media Academy plaque.
