I'm the course director for Coventry University's unique Masters degree in Automotive Journalism. There are usually five to seven students each year and many graduates are now working in automotive publishing or the motor industry.
Subjects I teach include:
- Automotive industry and culture - history, current and future technology, manufacturing, marketing, challenges and future
- Journalism skills - news and feature writing, interviewing, research, writing for print and online, audience analysis
- Specifics of automotive journalism - automotive contacts and networks, road testing, car photoshoots, driving techniques
- Print production - magazine content planning and flatplanning, managing production, page layou in Adobe indesign, digital image editing
- Employability and entrepreneurialism - professionalism, personal branding, freelancing
You can read more about the course here or at the Coventry University website and there's also this Car & Driver story about the course from 2011. I also have some videos and other resources for journalism students.
Other academic work
I've led training courses for the Guild of Motoring Writers and the Midland Group of Motoring Writers, covering Adobe Indesign and page layout, blogging, and the use of Twitter for journalists.
Research activities have included a series of quarterly management reports for a car company, each around 10,000 words. These multi-disciplinary reports detailed developments with relevance to the brand's market sector, covering political and economic activity, the new car market in the UK, EU and globally, new vehicle launches and other activities by competitor brands, and customer trends outside automotive.
Awards
Coventry University Teaching and Learning Excellence Awards 2014
Nominated for the award in Digital Literacy
Coventry University Student Union Awards 2012
Winner, Most Innovative use of Technology in Learning