Special Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: A journalist turned academician has won a six-month prestigious research fellowship abroad under the International Research Support Initiative Programme (IRSIP) of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
According to details, Ms. Ummul Baneen, Assistant Professor at the Department of Arts and Media, Foundation University was awarded a fellowship for the Michigan State University of United States.
Ms. Baneen was enrolled in Ph.D. Creative Arts and Communication and pursuing her research on Citizen Journalism. The esteemed fellowship would provide her with versatile exposure and enhance the quality of her research project.
It is worth mentioning that IRSIP offers a six-month research fellowship abroad in the world’s top 200 universities to students enrolled in full-time Ph.D. programs in Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
As for as Ms. Baneen’s journalistic profile is concerned, she has vast experience in the media industry ranging from reporting to desk assignments with leading TV channels i.e. ARY, DAWN, Press TV, DW Such TV, CBS 4, USA for over a decade.
She also produced a documentary in English on 600-year-old “Rohtas Fort” during her MSc. Her M. Phil thesis covers Sociology of Pakistani Female Journalists: A perception of Women Working in Print and Electronic Media of twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Throughout her professional career, Ms. Baneen earned several national and international awards and fellowships. She represented Pakistan in two weeks Cultural and Language Exchange Program organized by Beijing Language and Culture University, Peoples Republic of China (2011). She was also selected for the Professional Journalists fellowship by the USA for Pakistani journalists in 2014.
Ms. Ummul Baneen had participated in various pieces of training for International Journalists by UPI, DW, Reuters, CEJ, ICFJ, and IBA that enabled her to do better reporting using the latest social media tools for data collection including G-mail, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flicker.
