Victoria McCollum is from Coleraine (Northern Ireland) and holds a PhD in Film and a BA (Hons) in Media Arts from Ulster University, and an MA in Film Practice from Queen’s University (Belfast). She has previously held positions at the BBC and ITV in Northern Ireland, and HBO in the United States. She joined HBO, Time Warner Inc. at their headquarters in NYC, developing, marketing and promoting HBO's licensed products both within the U.S. and internationally. This involved working with several of HBO's leading partners, such as Apple, Cartoon Network, Cinemax, Facebook, New Line Cinema, Sesame Street, Telltale Games, Time Warner, Twitter and Universal Music Group. Victoria joined the School of Arts and Humanities at Ulster University in 2015 as a Lecturer in Cinematic Arts. 

In 2016, Victoria was awarded the Creativity and Culture prize by Ulster University's Department of Research and Impact at the Inaugural Research Communication Awards for demonstrating exceptional skill in communicating the purpose, meaning and impact of her research. In 2017, she received a Civic Impact Fund Award to curate and deliver Movies in Mind, Derry~Londonderry's 1st Mental Health Film Festival in association with Nerve Centre and Foyle Film Festival. In 2018, Victoria was announced Faculty Winner in the Early Career Research Excellence Awards at Ulster University. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the Digital, Creative and Financial Technologies group for Derry City.

Victoria has published a number of cutting-edge books on film, media and television, including her monograph Post-9/11 Heartland Horror: Rural Horror Films in an Era of Urban Terrorism and edited volumes HBO’s Original Voices: Race, Gender, Sexuality and Power (Routledge, 2018); Alternative Media in Contemporary Turkey: Sustainability, Activism and Resistance (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018); and Make America Hate Again: Trump-Era Horror and the Politics of Fear (Routledge, 2019). Victoria's upcoming collections include Resist! Protest Media and Popular Culture in the Brexit-Trump Era (2020); Blumhouse: The New House of Horror (2020); and Bloody Women! Women Directors of Horror (2021). She is also leading a long-term Halloween research project. 

Victoria's research interests include contemporary horror, popular television shows and the cultural history of Halloween.

International Gothic Association / Irish Association of American Studies / Popular Culture Association of Canada / Popular Culture Association of America / Fellow of the Higher Education Academy / Media, Communication & Cultural Association / British Association of Film and Television Studies

In 2019, Victoria was a visiting lecturer at Kadir Has University (Istanbul) and College of Charleston (South Carolina). She currently supervises six doctoral candidates within the School of Arts and Humanities

Victoria currently supervises the following PhD projects:

• John Deery: Representing Suicide & Issues of Mental Health in Film
• Kevin Gaffney: The New Homonormativity: Queer Filmmaking
• Amanda Finch: Cross-Gender Casting & Violence in Shakespeare
• Hamideh Javadi Bejandi: Feminine Identity in Middle Eastern Video Art
• John Kavanagh: Modern Mythologies, 80s Nostalgia and Horror Revivals
• Gerard Gibson: Crossing the Spectral Threshold: Moving-image Horror in Virtual Reality

Victoria currently teaches the following modules:

Advanced Editing Techniques; Art Direction & Production Design; Business of Film & Television' Cinematography; Dramatic Short Filmmaking; Final Project Theory & Practice; Horror Film: Theory & Practice.

Victoria previously taught the following modules:

Aesthetics and Politics; Film Practice Foundation; Media, Culture & Identity; Studying the Media; Psychoanalysis & Film; Media Studies & Production.

Victoria is the Study Abroad Coordinator for Cinematic Arts and an Employability & Professional Development Advisory panellist for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.