Lily Armstrong
First year PPE Student, Queen's University Belfast (Sept 2021)
Freelance Journalist & Writer
Blog Coordinator at Our Streets Now
About
I'm Lily, I'm from London and Bangor, Northern Ireland.
I begin my degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Queen's University Belfast this September.
I hope to work in Journalism. Writing to promote equality, encourage social change, and amplify the voices of those who are rarely heard in the media, would be incredibly fulfilling and rewarding to me.
PORTFOLIO
Unmasking Stalking: National Stalking Awareness Week, written for Our Streets Now, 21/04/21. -> Link to article
The media’s damaging contribution to victim blaming, written for Our Streets Now, 16/02/21. -> Link to article
What’s the craic: an insight into Belfast’s music scene, written for Haste Magazine, 13/11/20. -> Link to article
What’s next for ‘Generation Covid’?, written for The Know, 31/10/20. -> Link to article
Explained: Amy Coney Barrett, Supreme Court nominations & dark money scandals, written for The Know, 25/10/20. -> Link to article
Power is ours to take: How to be an Activist, written for The Know, 16/10/20. -> Link to article
Fashion Revolution on hold? Not anymore!, written for The Know, 01/10/20. -> Link to article
30 million Brits eligible for the flu vaccine, written for The Know, 22/09/20. -> Link to article
Was lockdown an introvert’s paradise?, written for The Know, 21/09/20. -> Link to article
Coronavirus and Revenge Porn: What’s the link?, written for The Know, 18/09/20. -> Link to article
Justice for Breonna Taylor? The Historic Settlement explained…, written for The Know, 17/09/20. -> Link to article
Topics of Interest
Public policy: how the government amends policies and how this process could be improved to better serve the public and its needs. This is a topic I plan to explore during my degree.
Women's Rights: I am currently a Blog Coordinator for Our Streets Now, a national campaign to end public sexual harassment. This involves writing articles for OSN's blog, communicating with potential contributors, and organising the posts to ensure we have a submission for our weekly blog post. This role allows me to develop my writing and raise awareness for a widespread issue. Like so many others, I experienced public sexual harassment as young as 10/11 years old. My personal insight encouraged me to work with OSN.
Education: I had the immense privilege of attending a top private school in London. I was awarded a bursary, without which I would not have been able to attend. I grew up on council estates, and very quickly recognised the huge disparity between my neighbours, and those at my secondary school. The option to attend a school like the one I went to, was not provided to my community. It became clear that there is no equality of opportunity across class, ethnicity, disability, religion and other characteristics. Our education policies must be upheaved and reassessed, because the current policies are damaging, discriminatory and prejudiced.