Kieran Coleman

I am a creative and passionate advocate for young people, bringing over five years of experience amplifying youth voices and working collaboratively with diverse communities. As a member of the Dorset Care Leaver Forum from April 2021 to July 2024, I used my personal experiences of being in foster care to drive impactful change and support others with similar experiences. During this time, I contributed to key projects, including redesigning the “What it is like to be a child in care” training to focus on lived experiences, creating promotional materials for children in care, and designing an information pack to support young people entering the fostering system.

My work on the Dorset Care Leaver Forum also included designing and co-creating the #YouthVoice Magazine, which celebrates the achievements and stories of care-experienced young people and is distributed to over 400 children in care across Dorset. I also designed invitations and postcards to recruit participants for activity days, ensuring accessibility and engagement.

Beyond content creation, I have represented care-experienced young people at key forums, such as the Dorset Corporate Parenting Board, where I shared my lived experiences to educate parents and professionals working with children in care. I facilitated training sessions to help professionals understand the challenges faced by care-experienced youth, overcoming personal reservations to ensure their voices were heard and valued.

Additionally, I have been a member of the Coram Voice Youth Advisory Board and have worked extensively across various charity and company boards. My skills include creating engaging films, photography, and events, as well as a proven ability to advocate for marginalized voices. My dedication, creativity, and lived experience make me a strong candidate to contribute meaningfully to any youth voice initiative.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 

07/2024 – Present 

Advisor on Speaking Across Lines Events Project | UCL , London

Advisor on the Speaking Across Lines Events project, which is about learning how researchers and professionals from lots of different subjects (e.g. medicine, social care, mental health care) can work together to produce valuable research evidence for children and young people’s mental health, but also come together with the researchers to discuss the best ways to do research and share the results so that they make a real difference.

03/2021 – 01/2024 

Care Experienced Consultant (Creative)| Coram Voice, London 

• Created films, case studies, and publications based on the company's reports that have been published to make them more accessible to people.  
• Created the anthology for the Voice’s Poetry Competition  
• Worked on different research studies, such as the New Belongings Project and the Health Inequalities study with AYPH.  
• Helped run events with Coram Voice, such as the New Belongings Finding Celebration Event.  
• Helped interview and choose new candidates for different roles within the company.  

08/2021 – 03/2023 

Advisor on Research Study | University of Birmingham, City of Birmingham 

• Producing and creating piece-to-camera films highlighting our involvement in the project as young advisors 
• Assisting with the recording and editing of the films 
• Setting up the interviews  
• Ensuring that these films were uploaded on the project website for public viewing and understanding of the project and our involvement. 
• Sharing these films on Twitter within our networks to promote the project.  

08/2021 – 03/2023 

Videographer & Editor | University of Birmingham, City of Birmingham 

• I played a crucial role in three significant studies, including an international scoping review and a study on LGBTQ+ young people’s experience of residential care.  
• By providing insights on emerging themes, I ensured the relevance of the study findings.  
• In collaboration with the research team, I co-designed age-appropriate interview questions for the second study. 
• Participated in the co-designing of a short animated film about the study findings, including script and storyboard development.  
• Assisted with recruitment for the study evaluating the LGBTQ+ E-Learning Module and facilitated survey distribution within our networks. 
• Produced and created piece-to-camera films to highlight our involvement in the project, managed the recording, editing, and setup of interviews, and ensured their public availability on the project website and Twitter for broader project awareness.  

12/2021 – 02/2023 

Freelance Website Blogger | Freelance / Fostering UK (Online) 

Contacted by Fostering UK on a freelance basis to create eight new blogs for their website under the title of Anonymous Care Experienced Blogger to talk about what it is like to be care experienced within the current fostering system and what it is like to go through current societal struggles as a care experienced person (e.g., Cost of Living, Financial Crisis, Housing Crisis, Covid-19, Education, 

Employment issues and training issues), but also talk about the positives as well, such as being able to see family again, getting first house, first job, graduating from university). 

Within this position, I also created new SEO content for the company's website about different towns and cities that they wanted to expand into. In this part of my position, I had to follow strict copywriting rules, GDPR and SEO content rules. 

12/2021 – 01/2022 

Student Accommodation Receptionist and Helper | Yugo Beckley Point, Plymouth 

• Worked on the reception of Beckley Point Student Accommodation during the festive period between the hours of 08:00 am and 20:00 pm.
• During this time, I was responsible for helping students who were remaining in the accommodation by giving out parcels when students came to collect them, helping students access rooms when locked out, being on hand if students needed anything, and being on hand in case of a fire evacuation. 

08/2020 – 06/2021 

Videographer & Editor | What Works for Children’s Social Care, London   

Working as a videographer on an intervention project by What Works for Children's Social Care looking at the positive effects social workers have on children in care. As this was done during the COVID-19 Pandemic, everything was done virtual and recording using Zoom Video Conference Software. 

• Recording Interviews of Care leavers from different local authorities 
• Creating and editing footage to create films as required for the intervention,  
• Keeping the team up to date with the progress of the films  
• Record and detail all finished films on a spreadsheet for the team to view.  
• Keep all footage and data secure following GDPR. 

10/2019 – 10/2019 (1 Day Event) 

Event Photographer | Dorset Council, (Dorchester, Dorset) 

Dorset Council commissioned me to photograph the Annual Dorset STAR Awards, which were held at 

Bryanston School in Blandford Forum to celebrate the achievements and successes of all Children in Care, Care Leavers, and social services professionals who provide foster placements and supported accommodation to former children in care past their 18th birthday. For this event, I captured a series of images for the council to promote the event and the successes of their website and publications. 

08/2016 – 09/2018 

Facilitator | The Participation People (Dorchester, Dorset)   

• Facilitated sessions with young people aged 5-18 who were in foster care and leaving foster care to enter supported accommodation and independent living. 
• Designed and created sessions for young people to enjoy during their half terms of school (Summer, Easter, Christmas, Halloween, etc.) 
• Conducted inspections of youth services such as Dorset Drug and Alcohol Services, Supported accommodation services and Youth Health Services. 
• Presented at Events such as the ‘Hampshire and Isle of Wight Family Justice Conference’.  
• Worked with local authority professionals to decide on how to make the service better for all young people who are in foster care and make them aware of the importance of making service better for young people. 

EDUCATION 

09/2021 – 12/2022 

University of Plymouth | Plymouth, Devon 

MA: (Master of Arts) in Photography 

Create a LGBTQ+ campaign for young people aged 16-25 years old, during Pride Month to showcase that it is okay to be who they are. 

Created photographic campaigns on teenage mental health issues and substance abuse. 

Thesis Title: The Representation of the LGBTQ+ community in photography: “Has the representation of the LGBTQ+ community changed within photography between 1970 and 2022?”. 

09/2018 – 06/2021 

University of Plymouth | Plymouth, Devon 

BA (Hons) Media Arts 

Bachelor of Arts (With Honours) in Media Arts 

Final Grade: 2:1 (Second Class Honours Upper Division) 

Collaborated with outside agencies to create work in the form of a live brief 

Created three end-of-year shows, which one was in person and two online due to COVID-19  

Thesis Title: Representation of Gay and Bisexual Characters: “Has the representation of Gay and Bisexual characters in modern-day television changed since the early 1950s?”.  

09/2016 – 06/2018 

Weymouth College | Weymouth, Dorset 

UAL Extended Diploma in Art and Design 

Final Grade: Pass (108 UCAS Points) 

Worked on projects such as perfume advert, location photography, photobooks and moving image music videos, Location Photography, Studio Photography, Collaboration and Slow and Fast Shutter Speed photography. 

Attended Weymouth College’s DSCB Safeguarding event to be their photographer for the event. Attended Weymouth College’s LGBT Awareness event as their photographer 

Alongside the course, I completed my Level 2 Functional Skills in English and Mathematics (2016 - 2017) and completed my GCSE English (November 2017)  

09/2016 – 06/2018 

Weymouth College | Weymouth, Dorset 

UAL Diploma in Creative Media Production 

Completed Course with a Grade of Distinction 

Worked on projects such as Radio Production, Music Video, Album Cover Photography, Artist Publicity 

Media (Tour Posters, Album Covers, etc) and Television Advert 

Alongside the course, I completed my Level 1 Functional Skills in English and Mathematics.