Ciaran Camman (they/he) is a trans, queer, nonbinary white settler born in London, Ontario, on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenausaune, Lenaapeewak, and Attawandaron, and now living in Vancouver, on the traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ.
Working as an evaluation consultant for over a decade, Ciaran has supported leaders, organizations and teams working across multiple sectors and service areas, including criminal justice, youth and community development, immigration, education, public health, disability services, environmental organizing, grant-making, community engagement and organizational transformation. The common thread has been working with people who are trying to do something different, whether from their own usual practice or everybody else’s, who are asking, “How do we understand what we’re doing? Where do we go from here?” and looking to evaluation for that insight and guidance.
Ciaran trained originally as a researcher in the field of social psychology. They built on that foundation with a focus on equity-focused, liberatory and creative evaluation practices, blending evaluation with complementary practices in facilitation, coaching, strategy and design. They also have a passion for community-building, especially finding ways to support and be in relationship and solidarity with others who are seeking to use evaluation to illuminate, question and transform inequities of power. They have contributed to published papers on evaluation, including on the use of theatre as an evaluation method and, most recently, on the relationship of queer identity and queer evaluation. They also co-host Eval Café, an irregularly released podcast on all things evaluation.
As a member of the first-ever cohort of the Evaluation for Social Change and Transformational Learning program, Ciaran has fond memories of the program and first-hand experience with how vital an intentionally transformative approach to evaluation is. They are grateful for the opportunity to support other learners through this part of their evaluation journey.