Dr Emily Coleman is a Postdoctoral Fellow at King’s College London, whose research into documentary production and the cultural industries has been supported by both the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the Economic & Social Research Council. Previously, she worked in the TV industry for over 15 years, producing and directing factual programmes and documentaries for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and SKY. She is currently writing a book about documentary contributors and what their experiences tell us about the media.

Research interests and PhD supervision

• Documentary
• Cultural Industries
• Production Studies

Teaching

Emily teaches documentary theory and practice, as well as topics related to the cultural industries and creative labour. She is a mentor for underrepresented students, and also teaches advanced writing skills workshops for postgraduate researchers.

Expertise and public engagement

Emily has organised panels and spoken at international conferences and events including:

• ‘The Cultural Production of the Ordinary.’ International Communication Association, May 2022, Paris.
• ‘The Work of Documentary Relationships,’ Visible Evidence, August 2022, Gdansk.
• ‘Being on Screen: Why do Ordinary People Take Part in Documentaries?’ White Rose College of Arts & Humanities Annual Postgraduate Conference, October 2019, York.
• ‘Ordinary People in the Media: Wellbeing, Duty of Care, and Industry Practices,’ Research Live, University of Leeds Doctoral College, February 2022.

Emily is a member of the Advisory Board for ReCARE TV – a major three-year AHRC-funded project about duty of care in the media.

Selected publications

• Coleman, E. (2023). The Wellbeing of Ordinary People in Factual Television Production.’ Media, Culture and Society. DOI: 10.1177/01634437231155
• Coleman, E. (2023). ‘The Work of Documentary Relationships.’ European Journal of Cultural Studies. DOI: 10.1177/13675494231208501
• ‘Exploitation and Documentary Contributors.’ In Piotrowska A (ed) The Ethics of Documentary Film. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press – forthcoming