From The Guardian to Leeds Beckett University : The Career Journey of Senior Lecturer Sean Dodson

Sean Dodson was born in 1969 and has taught Postgraduate MSc Journalism at Leeds Beckett University for over 15 years now.

Sean’s path took many unexpected turns but all of which led him to his job today which he is very grateful and passionate about. Sean’s journey is one full of travel and ambition and really emphasises the importance of prioritising stability over fun opportunities and he has shown you can have both if you are patient.

Sean was working at a mill in Slaithwaite, Huddersfield in the 90s ; whilst working at the mill Sean did not have anyone to speak to at lunchtimes so he began purchasing The Daily Express which he was not too keen on as it was a tabloid paper, so the next lunchtime he bought The Independent which was way more interesting as it was a broadsheet paper. Sean enjoyed eating his sandwich behind the newspaper and transporting into his own little world for a lunchtime. This is where Sean had an epiphany - he wanted to report on cultural events and large issues that shaped society, and that is what he set his mind on doing. After Sean realised he wished to pursue his career in Journalism he went back to college and completed his A-Levels, after receiving his qualifications he went on to complete a BTec Media course at Huddersfield Technical College. Sean then struck gold in the mid-90’s when he was offered a place at the London College of Printing ( which is now attached to the University of the Arts London). This gave Sean the foundation he needed to pursue his big dreams of writing for household papers like The Guardian and The Daily Mail. Initially Sean had aspirations to be a music journalist as he had an underlying passion for the music culture at the time - however after gaining experience in print journalism his focus began to shift towards writing and researching for newspapers.

Sean describes his time at London College of printing as his formative years, where he really discovered what kind of journalist he wanted to be and what impact he wanted to make on the world of print. Sean made it very clear that during his time studying at the London College of Printing he discovered how he wanted to be a journalist with a meaningful impact on society, reporting on big cultural events. During his second year of study, Sean began working as a sub-editor for the television listings at the BBC. After graduating from LCP, Sean was offered a job at Quantum Publishing in Croydon as a sub editor, whilst working daily at Quantum, Sean was also taking freelance shifts at The Guardian whenever he could - Sean would say yes to any extra shifts whether it was Bank Holiday Monday or Christmas Eve as he noticed as a company they were struggling to fill shifts despite being so particular about who to give full time roles to. After 2 months of taking every shift offered to him at the Guardian, the editor, Simon Walden noticed Sean’s hard work and graft and proposed he began working at The Guardian as a full-time researcher ( essentially the work he was already doing for Quantum Publishing but for them - which Sean was understandably thrilled with).

Sean worked for The Guardian from 1998-2008 and loved the fast-paced nature of being a researcher. It was also a poignant time for print as the World Wide Web was taking over, Sean was at the frontline of a huge recession that significantly affected print in the early 2000s. Whilst working at The Guardian, Sean was approached by an academic at The University of Greenwich and was asked if he could run a few lecturers for the Media and Journalism course. Sean got to explore and travel all around the world for his role at The Guardian - he met his wife during a work trip in Finland. After the 2008 recession Sean quickly realised that journalism was going to be a rocky career path to go down, so he took up as a full-time academic at The University of Worcester. Understandably, going from feature writing and researching for the guardian to a full-time lecturer Sean wasn’t 100% happy with his new role in a city he was unfamiliar with, and with his wife being pregnant they made a decision to move back to his hometown of Huddersfield.

When Sean's daughter was 6 months old he took a role at Leeds Beckett University and began enjoying being a full-time academic teaching Postgraduate Msc Journalism. Sean enjoys teaching Postgraduate students over Undergraduates as he finds that they are more engaged, keen and more mature as they have completed their 3 years as an undergrad and they have chosen to pay for an extra year so they are more committed and focused.

Sean hasn’t completely given up writing features and is currently working on a chapter for a book where he looks at the St Teresa College in Kochi - An autonomous women's college formed under the patronage of the Archdiocese of Verapoly in India.