Dr Lea Hellmueller is Director of Research and Reader (Associate Professor) at the Journalism Department at City, University of London. She is also an Affiliated Researcher with the Violence & Society Centre. She grew up in Switzerland and prior to joining academia worked as a journalist in Switzerland, South Africa, and the United States.

Fluent in multiple languages, Dr Hellmueller researches the role of media and journalism in a globalising world, focusing on precarities of freelancers and global ethical decision making in newsrooms, including questions around global risk journalism, social justice, and violence & media. Dr Hellmueller is currently working on two large research projects with internal and external partners including the Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma in Europe and the Rory Peck Trust; one focusing on building resilience with the aim to develop an ethical decision-making toolkit for journalists covering crisis and conflict and another one focusing on addressing the traumatic impact of climate reporting.