Master, Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Mary Hockaday is Master of Trinity Hall. She read English at Trinity Hall and took an MA in Journalism at New York University on a Fulbright Scholarship.

The Master’s role is to support the core academic purpose of the College, foster a strong and harmonious community where everyone can thrive, and oversee good governance and the College’s strategic development.

Mary was formerly Controller BBC World Service English, responsible for the BBC World Service’s international radio and digital services, and growing the weekly audience to nearly 100 million. From 2009-2014 she was Head of the BBC Newsroom, overseeing the BBC’s core news services on radio, television and online for domestic and global audiences and leading innovation in digital and visual journalism. Mary was Editor of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs from 2001 to 2006. WSNCA won a Special Sony Gold award in recognition of its 9/11 coverage.

In the early 1990s Mary was based in Prague as correspondent for the BBC and The Independent, covering post-communist Czechoslovakia. She is author of a biography of Milena Jesenska, a 20th-century Czech journalist and muse of Franz Kafka.

Mary serves on the board of the British Library, is a Lay Trustee with the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, is an Independent Non-executive Director with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a Board Member with a small social enterprise, Climate Alliance. She is a former external examiner for Cardiff University’s School of Journalism.