Shared Future News is an online publication dedicated to providing news, information, and personal stories on the topics of peacebuilding, reconciliation, and diversity.
Shared Future News is a company limited by guarantee, registered in Northern Ireland at Companies House (Company Registration Number: NI667225) and is a non-profit, Community Interest Company (CIC), where all generated surplus income is reinvested in the company.
Shared Future News publishes to an audience interested in the history and politics of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We believe that it is important to spread the news of those working for a shared future in Northern Ireland.
Our vision is a shared Northern Irish society where peace is improved by reporting and storytelling.
Our mission is to develop constructive journalism in the province of Ulster.
Our objective is to provide depth and context to peacebuilding activities in Northern Ireland and the border counties.
Our activities benefit those who wish to improve their research, writing, and journalism skills in Northern Ireland.
Shared Future News publishes a free-to-access website of articles that provides evidence in the public domain of peacebuilding work in and about Northern Ireland. We provide a platform for voices and perspectives that are underreported elsewhere, and to encourage participatory democracy in Northern Ireland.
Our training services improve the research, writing, and journalism skills of participants and their networks. We work in school and local community environments, and for private and public sector clients. Every event is an engagement with opportunities to improve civic discourse in Northern Ireland.
Project funds come from charitable trusts, statutory bodies, and individual donations. None contribute to our editorial policy nor influence what we publish.
Almost 500 articles have been published at Shared Future News, covering topics such as religion, segregation, integration, education, youth, sectarianism, women, justice, victims and survivors, trauma, equality, peace walls, art, the border, and Brexit. We also publish short research articles, on topics including culture, bonfires, reconciliation, policing, housing, language, parades, flags, sport, and the cost of division. We keep an online chronology of over 25 years of the Northern Ireland peace process and community relations policy up to date.
For the centenary of Northern Ireland, Shared Future News produced a podcast, What Northern Ireland Means to Me, consisting of two dozen interviews with civic and political voices. This project was complemented by a book published with the same title.
Shared Future News is regularly represented at conferences, events, and festivals that touch on the themes of peacebuilding and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, and provides input on panels and bespoke training to community and educational programmes.
Our Team
Allan LEONARD
Managing Editor
Allan Leonard is a co-founder of Shared Future News, which he has edited since 2008. He has served in senior management positions and as a trustee in several charities established to promote peace and reconciliation, where he also gained international experience supporting programmes in divided societies. Allan is also a co-founder of FactCheckNI; a trustee and company secretary at the photography charity, Belfast Exposed; and serves as treasurer at the Belfast and District Branch of the National Union of Journalists.
Alan MEBAN
Board Member
Alan Meban is a co-founder of Shared Future News. He is a Belfast-based freelance journalist and arts/politics blogger who reports from, live-tweets, and live-streams civic, academic, and political events, as well as producing podcasts and radio programmes. Alan is a director at FactCheckNI and a member of the Corrymeela Community.
Julia PAUL
Board member
Julia Paul is a co-founder of Shared Future News. She is an award-winning, creative and resourceful, PhD-qualified journalist and media consultant with a progressive career spanning more than 20 years within the broadcasting, overseas development, and education sectors. She has specialist expertise in reporting on conflict and divided communities, and in training journalists in countries emerging from conflict. She is an experienced media analyst who has lectured at a Russell Group university, presented her research at international conferences, and contributed to Ofcom public events.