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George Carey, founder of the BBC's Newsnight, has been presented an Honorary Visiting Professorship by the Department of Film and Digital Arts at Solent University.

9th April 2019
TV, film, media production and technology

George is a British documentary-maker and television journalist whose films have aired on major television channels in Britain and around the world. Among Carey’s many credits as producer or executive producer, are award-winning films such as Terror in the Mall, Babitsky’s War and The Valley - which won the Prix Italia and the Golden Nymph in Monte Carlo; and landmark documentary series including Russia with Jonathan Dimbleby, The Plague, Century Road, Visions of Heaven and Hell and Testing God.

Before becoming an independent producer he worked at the BBC where he was the creator and first editor of Newsnight, and later editor of Panorama. After 20 years running a successful independent company, he returned to shooting and directing his own films, many of them in Russia. His most recent documentary, about the Cold War spy George Blake, was nominated for last year’s Grierson award.

The professorship was presented to George during a live Q&A session with Solent students, and was awarded in recognition of his immense and lasting contribution to filmmaking.

Stephen Desmond, senior lecturer in film production said: “We are incredibly honoured that George has agreed to be a visiting professor in our film department this semester. He is a towering presence the world over in the television industry, in the arena of documentary film production and in the independent filmmaking sector in general.

The film and media course area at Solent was recently ranked by The Guardian as 15th from a field of 84 similar departments in universities across the UK. It is in this context that individuals like George Carey wish to be involved in the education and support of our students".

Find out more about our television, film and media technology courses