Jess Crombie

Jess Crombie is a researcher and scholar working as a Senior Lecturer at UAL, and as a consultant for the development and humanitarian sector with organisations such as the UN Global Executive Leadership Initiative, UNHCR, DEC, Red Cross, Save the Children and the World Food Programme. In both contexts Jess utilises almost two decades as a senior leader in the charity sector to explore the ethical complexities in documentary storytelling and find practical ways to navigate this responsibly. Her research focus is investigating the potential for power shifts by seeking out the opinions and ideas of the people who share their stories with INGOs around both process and portrayal.

Jess commissioned and co-authored the ground-breaking research  ‘The People in the Pictures’, and later ‘Who Owns The Story’ and founded and now co-chairs the Bond sponsored ‘People in the Pictures working group‘, set up to bring about sector wide change towards more ethical practices in the creation and use of images of poverty.