Tom Felle

Tom Felle is Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Galway. He was a Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence for the 2023-24 academic year based in Los Angeles, California, USA. He served as Head of Department and Deputy Head of School at Galway from 2018-2023. From 2013-2018 he was Senior Lecturer in Journalism at City, University of London.A former career journalist and foreign correspondent, he started his career with the Connacht Tribune and worked with the Irish Independent in Ireland for six years. He was Deputy Editor of the Irish Echo in Sydney from 2001 to 2004, and from 2006-2008 he served as Bureau Chief of the Leb News Agency in Beirut, Lebanon. He has worked in higher education since 2009.

His research interests centre around the critical role of the media in a well functioning democracy, and include digital news, verification, and data-driven journalism; Foreign Interference and Manipulation of Information (FIMI) and disinformation; and FOI, trust, transparency and accountability. He sat on an expert committee that advised the Irish Government on FOI in 2013, and has given testimony in the House of Commons in the UK on the importance of FOI for a strong democracy. He has given expert testimony to the European Parliament on issues including cyberbullying (2021), and the Media Freedom Act (October 2022), as well as to the Irish Parliament Taskforce on Safe Participation in Public Life (September 2023). He worked alongside the United Nations migration agency, IOM, as lead academic partner for the Global Migration Media Academy, from 2020 to 2022.He has published various book chapters, academic articles, has edited three books and is a published author.

Trust, transparency and journalism's role in the democratic process

Data-driven journalism

Social media, social newsgathering and audience development

FIMI, verification, misinformation and disinformation

Tom's teaching interests include news and current affairs; social media; data and visualisation and media innovation.