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Post-Grad Portraits: Kiara Corso

Written byPost-Grad Community
Published date 21 February 2024

A series of interviews with alumni from across UAL, Post-Grad Portraits is a chance to highlight the achievements of postgrads from the last decade. Post-Grad Portraits is part of our celebration of Post-Grad Community's 10 year anniversary.

Kiara Corso

MA Global Collaborative Design Practice at Camberwell College of Arts and UAL Post-Grad Ambassador (2022 - 2023)

Hello Kiara! Could you introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Kiara and I am completing my MA Global Collaborative Design Practice course at Camberwell College of Arts.

I grew up in Australia, where I completed my Undergraduate Degree in Physiology and Psychology. I have worked in Neuropsychological Research, looking at the impacts of Brain Trauma, which has been fascinating.

I have always loved art and design and have found ways to be creative whether it be through photography, painting or creating my own design projects. While I was working in clinical and research-based settings, I realised that creativity was lacking, and my love for the arts could benefit the problems I was being faced with.

As a result, I applied to UAL and was thrilled when I was accepted into the MA Global Collaborative Design Practice course. My course has been fantastic, with the opportunity to study and live in Japan for 3 months, the experience is one that I will never forget. We focus on co-design, collaboration, participatory and action-based design and cover a broad range of topics from homelessness to climate change and healthcare.

I am currently completing my thesis, where I am merging my two fields of knowledge in healthcare and in design, with the aim to improve pain communication through tactile objects. I have been collaborating with Doctors, Speech Pathologists, Paramedics, Chronic Pain Sufferers and Designers to bring this project to life.

image of bio experiment — **Kiara Corso,** **Experimenting with biomaterials at Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan**

table top sculpture — **Kiara Corso,** **Unit 2 project on Hyperseptation and Climate Change in the setting of London’s Transport Systems**

Studying at UAL has opened so many new opportunities as I am constantly meeting and networking with creatives and experts in the field.

Through events held by the Post-Grad Community I have been able to learn new skills like life drawing and meet new students from other campuses.

Working within this creative melting pot that London is, has meant that my career now has endless possibilities. Whether it be a new exhibition that is showing or a workshop on clay making, the opportunity to grow my knowledge, skills and mindset has been impactful.

hands hold clay scuplture — **Kiara Corso,** **Clay making workshop to understand external pain communication as part of my thesis**

I decided to apply for a Post-Grad Community Ambassador Role in 2022 and have absolutely loved being a part of the team.

Being an ambassador has meant I have been able to attend a variety of events to help students feel welcomed and supported. Events have included cheese and wine mixers, gallery visits, theatre shows and workshops. I have also been able to host my own event where I ran a relaxing collaging workshop for University Mental Health Day.

In addition to these in person events my role as Ambassador has also meant I support online open days which is a great way to share my experience to incoming students.

Being a part of this community has made my time in London as an International student extremely enjoyable. It has given me confidence within myself and helped find my place in the city.

I feel like I am a part of a big, interconnected web of talented creatives from different backgrounds and that is something I am proud to be a part of for years to come and will be keeping in touch with Post-Grad Community in th years ahead!