Kristen Ali Eglinton, PhD
Co-founder, Executive Director & Programs Director
As the Executive Director and Director of Programs at Footage, and an applied social scientist and ethnographer, Kristen has devoted her life to elevating the voices of vulnerable communities around the globe, including young women survivors of violence. Kristen trained as a visual artist and holds a doctorate in social and educational research from the University of Cambridge.
For twenty years, Kristen has pioneered ethnographic and multimedia expressive methods (including digital storytelling and novel tools) in her empowerment work with communities and organizations worldwide. Her work is deeply rooted in academic and field research. She is an expert qualitative and ethnographic practitioner, focusing in particular on using innovative methodologies and how the science of narrative, human connection, empathy, and compassion can achieve psychological and physiological change. Kristen has published in leading peer-reviewed journals including Youth & Society and Young and is the author of two books including Youth Identities, Localities, and Visual Material Culture (Springer) – a rich participatory ethnography of youth lives in New York City and sub-‐Arctic Canada.
As an applied social scientist and design ethnographer, Kristen has contributed to international projects involving mental, social, and emotional wellbeing, refugee voice, gender-based violence, young women’s leadership, Aboriginal health and suicide prevention, addiction and compassion, childhood obesity, financial inclusion, and on multinational technology for development projects, including one project that established information-sharing systems across indigenous villages in South Africa. Her clients range from international foundations to universities, to UN missions and non-profits, to Fortune 500 companies and start-up social enterprises.
Under Kristen’s leadership, Footage has worked in 11 countries across four continents, built the world’s largest digital storytelling platform amplifying the experiences of women and violence and has received ten diplomacy awards from the U.S. Department of State — nine of which were in the Post-Soviet region and Eurasia. Her work with Footage has been featured in various fora, including the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (invited speaker, 2016), Salt and Diageo’s “100 Inspiring Women for International Women’s Day,” Reader’s Digest’s “8 Inspiring Women Who Are Changing the Lives of Women Across the World,” and UN Commission on the Status of Women (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023). Though a world citizen, Kristen considers New York City home.