Activities for Communication & Media students

Dr Mark Benson

Lecturer in Screen Production

Life before Ulster

Prior to academia, Mark spent twenty years working in the media industry. During this time he produced, directed and developed programmes broadcast on the BBC, ITV, RTÉ, C4, UTV, TV3, Radio Ulster and TG4. In addition to documentaries for the UK Foreign Office and Channel 4, Mark's work comprised of multi-camera studio and location projects, live and as-live, that included formats for entertainment, music, comedy, magazine shows, chat shows and game shows. In addition, Mark developed, produced and directed single-camera presenter led location programmes.

Prior to his current position at Ulster University, Mark completed his PhD in History and post doctoral work at Queen's University, Belfast before taking up a lecturing post at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, China. Whilst at QUB, he also worked with the Widening Participation Unit.

Teaching

Mark currently supervises all final year projects linked to a multi-camera environment. As module coordinator he teaches Cinematography, Live Broadcast and the Diploma in Professional Practice (work placement year). Mark has previously taught Introduction to Storytelling, Short Film and acted as a dissertation supervisor.

Research

Social histories linked to abortion provision.

Mark T.S. Benson, Northern Irish Abortions: A History, 1900-1968 (forthcoming with
Liverpool University Press, 2025)

Jennifer Trouton and Mark T.S. Benson (eds), One of Many: a collection of artistic works and
short essays (Royal Hibernian Academy/UU/NI Arts Council funded publication, 2024)

Civic Roles

Royal Television Society, committee member (Northern Ireland)

Dr Aodheen McCartan

Senior Lecturer Communication & Advertising

Life Before Ulster

Dr Aodheen McCartan worked in marketing positions in the voluntary and private sectors prior to her academic career.

Her first degree is in Business Administration and Computer Science which she followed with a Master’s in Business Administration.

Aodheen completed her PhD in 2002 at Ulster University and the title of her doctoral thesis is; ‘An Analysis of the Contribution of Networking to Small Firm Marketing’.

Teaching

Aodheen joined the School of Communication in 2003.

She teaches in the areas of advertising, consumer behaviour and digital media communication and she is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Aodheen was Course Director of the BSc Communication, Advertising and Marketing programme between 2009 and 2021 and she acted as placement co-ordinator for the School for a number of years. Aodheen has co-supervised a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project.

Research

Aodheen’s research interests are in the fields of advertising, digital marketing, small firm marketing and financial services marketing.

She has also engaged in research focusing on cross-community relations and youth unemployment in Northern Ireland, research that was funded by the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Aodheen has supervised, and is supervising, PhD researchers in the areas of small firm marketing, digital marketing, organizational leadership and automated teaching.

Aodheen has published in a range of marketing, small business/entrepreneurship, financial services and digital marketing journals.

Civic Roles

Aodheen was a Board member of a local charitable organisation for ten years. The organisation aimed to advance women’s involvement in sectors of training and employment that have a low level of female participation, and specifically targeted women who were socially and economically disadvantaged.  During that time, and for one year, she acted as Chairperson.

Within Ulster University, Aodheen co-founded and manages the annual Publicity Association of Northern Ireland/Ulster University advertising competition.  As well as this project-based competition providing invaluable real-life experience for students by allowing them to work with local agencies on a live advertising brief, every year, a local charity or community group gets to enjoy the benefits of an agency standard, regional advertising campaign that delivers key organisational benefits.