On Thursday 25 February, the Alumni Engagement Team launched their flagship engagement series ‘Alumni Angles’ to showcase the talent in the Queen Mary alumni community.
The virtual event ‘Alumni Angles: A conversation with BBC newsreader Jane Hill’, in celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month 2021, was a huge success with 225 guests tuning in. The event brought together alumni (who joined from 19 countries around the world), students, staff and members of the general public. A huge thank you to everyone who came along!
During this inaugural ‘Alumni Angles’ event, BBC newsreader and alumna Jane Hill (Politics BA, 1991) answered a series of questions asked by co-hosts Professor Rainbow Murray, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, and Tiana Dinard-Samuel, Queen Mary Students' Union's Vice President Communities.
Jane answered questions, sent in by alumni and students, in her self-confessed ‘chatterbox’ style which was both endearing and engaging. Jane gave audience members an insight into her Queen Mary student days, her extensive career at the BBC including how she broke into the industry and some of the news stories she has reported on over the years, her identity in relation to the LGBTQ+ community, her battle with breast cancer, and how she personally champions equality and diversity. Watch a recording of the event now.
Jane Hill presents the BBC News at One on BBC1. She graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a BA in Politics in 1991 and is proud to be an Honorary Fellow. Jane has worked in broadcast journalism for over 25 years during which time she has covered many high profile stories including the terrorist attack at London Bridge; the Grenfell Tower fire; US Presidential elections; Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann in Portugal. Outside the newsroom, Jane has worked for more than 10 years in the field of equality, diversity and inclusion and is the supporter of several charities including Diversity Role Models, the Albert Kennedy Trust, Parkinson’s UK, Cancer Research UK and Breast Cancer Now.
Follow Jane on Twitter: @JaneHillNews
Professor Rainbow Murray is Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. She is an expert on gender politics, representation and political institutions, with a particular interest in French and British politics. Her current projects include merit and quality in political representation, political renewal in the French parliament, the representation of minority men in politics and the role of campaign finance in political gender gaps. Professor Murray has provided expert consultancy to bodies such as the European Union, British Council and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and commentary to domestic and international media. She was the first Senior Diversity Lead at Queen Mary and is Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and an LGBTQ+ Role Model.
Tiana Dinard-Samuel is a recent graduate of Queen Mary University of London, having completed a BA in Film Studies and Hispanic Studies, with a year abroad in Buenos Aires, in summer 2020. She has been Vice President Communities for Queen Mary Students’ Union since August and focuses on the welfare of Queen Mary’s student communities and groups such as BAME, LGBTQ+, women and international. Tiana is committed to creating a campus community where everyone is respected and well represented and she leads on the Students’ Union’s liberation campaigns, such as LGBTQ+ History Month in February and Black History Month in October to celebrate and inform about our different communities.
Watch the recording of the event here.
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