Ella McSweeney

Ella McSweeney is an Irish food and farming journalist and reporter. She has worked for BBC, RTÉ (Ireland's national broadcaster) and the Guardian newspaper. She graduated from Trinity College, Dublin and is a post graduate student in food policy at City University, London.

Early life

Ella McSweeney grew up in Ireland. She graduated with a first-class honours degree in science - specialising in zoology - from Trinity College, Dublin.

Career

Radio

McSweeney studied science at Trinity College, Dublin, specialising in zoology.^[1] She began working for RTÉ Radio in 2000, producing Future Tense and Nature's Web. She then spent three years at BBC radio, television and online media in Belfast and London before returning to RTÉ in 2004. She presented and produced a number of RTÉ series, including The Green Light, Farm Week, RTÉ's Big Science Debate, as well as science documentaries for RTE's Documentary on One slot. From 2004 to 2007, McSweeney travelled around rural Ireland recording her wildlife and walking series Shanks Mare.^[2] She also made the marine series Into the Deep, and the award-winning science series Mind Matters.^[3] She has reported for BBC Radio 4's Farming Today and also the BBC Food Programme. In 2013 she presented a BBC World Service documentary on vertical farming and in 2015 she went to Kentucky to make a radio documentary on Wendell Berry which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.