Victoria McCollum

Victoria McCollum is from the Causeway Coast (Northern Ireland) and holds a PhD in Cultural & Film Studies; a BA (Hons) in Media Arts; and a PG Cert in Higher Education Practice from Ulster University. She has an MA in Film Practice from Queen’s University (Belfast) and a PG Cert in Global Business Leadership and Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. Victoria has previously held positions at BBC, ITV, MTV and HBO (Time Warner Inc), and has collaborated on projects with Apple, Cartoon Network, Cinemax, Facebook, New Line Cinema, Sesame Street, Sky Atlantic, Telltale Games, Time Warner, Twitter and Universal Music Group. She is Associate Dean (Partnerships and Student Recruitment) for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Ulster University.

An award-winning educator and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Victoria is known for her inclusive, creative and socially engaged approach to education. Her research, including eight published books, explores how storytelling across film, games and television can challenge dominant narratives around trauma, identity and conflict. She was elected to the Senate of Ulster University in 2023 and has taught internationally as a Visiting Lecturer at Kadir Has University (Istanbul), College of Charleston (South Carolina), Syracuse University (New York) and various institutions across West and South Asia.

Alongside her research and teaching, Victoria has taken on a range of leadership roles focused on partnership-building, student opportunity and widening access across the arts, humanities and creative disciplines. She was part of the academic team that secured over £536k in funding for a new Virtual Production Facility at Ulster University, creating new opportunities for students, staff and industry collaboration. She also co-led The Witches of Islandmagee Creative and Digital Project, an interdisciplinary initiative that harnessed film, games and immersive tech to explore social justice, amplify silenced histories and translate research into accessible public-facing work with schools, museums, councils and international collaborators.

Much of Victoria’s work is driven by a commitment to widening participation and creating meaningful learning experiences for students who might not otherwise have access to them. This includes developing international filmmaking field trips to Mumbai, where creative students from underrepresented backgrounds work on the ground within the global screen industries, gaining practical skills, confidence and a wider sense of what is possible for them.

At a local and regional level, Victoria recently co-founded a mentoring programme for teenage girls in Derry City in partnership with YMCA, supporting young women to build confidence, aspiration and creative ambition. She also led a high-profile institutional collaboration with the Irish Labour Party to name the University’s Derry-based film studio in honour of Mo Mowlam, a landmark partnership celebrating peace-building, civic leadership and political courage, formally launched by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 

Outside her professional work, Victoria is a qualified equestrian coach and is currently training in Equine Facilitated Learning (EFL), using human–animal connection to foster emotional resilience and wellbeing. She is guided by a deep belief in the transformative power of creativity, community and compassion to drive meaningful change.