Wayne Crookes Professor in Environmental and Climate Journalism Department of Writing, University of Victoria
Over a diverse, 25-year span, Sean has dedicated his career to serving the public interest through journalism. He’s an award-winning investigative journalist, documentary filmmaker, and most recently, an inspiring journalism professor helping to launch the careers of hundreds of students.
Currently at the University of Victoria, he is the director of the Climate Disaster Project, tackling what many consider to be the defining problem of our times. The project involves students from post-secondary institutions around the world. Journalism students are documenting firsthand accounts of people who have survived climate disasters, drawing attention to the human cost of climate change and investigating the problems and solutions survivors identify.
When the Climate Disaster Project won a National Newspapers Award in 2023, judges applauded the trauma-informed approach to journalism, as well as the structure of the project and its many partnerships. They said it was a model of cooperation that can be replicated in other newsrooms as they shrink.
Previously, Sean was best known as the founder of the online news service Public Eye, an investigative journalism site that regularly exposed political and financial scandals in B.C. He filed mountains of Freedom of Information requests and closely examined government contracts to sniff out anything fishy.
Holman’s investigative reporting resulted in the departures of eight officials, as well as major policy and legislative changes, including securing additional funds for B.C. wildfire preparation and contributing to the reform of the B.C. Lobbyists Registration Act. He also played an advocacy role while vice-president for the Canadian Association of Journalists, leading a national campaign to promote freedom of information and to raise awareness about government secrecy in Canada.