Thread by @AFI_WG

As promised, we continue the @AFI_WG's policy primer series with a primer on #fieldwork 🌍📝🌏. Authored by @BeBedeGe, @HeathershawJ & @ilyas_saliba, it suggests a list of institutional measures which support the fieldwork approval process and enable good practice and safety. 1/

⚠️⚠️After a number of recent high-profile incidents of researchers suffering harassment, arrest, detention and even death while on fieldwork, increased attention has rightly been given to protecting UK-affiliated staff and doctoral researchers when conducting research abroad. 2/

While the risks are real, the challenge for 🇬🇧universities is much broader than protecting their researchers. The question is then how to safeguard their staff while at the same time enable them to engage in quality fieldwork under difficult circumstances. 3/

Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that fieldwork contexts (incl. digital fieldwork) are so diverse that they defy generic assessment. Travel advisories, political risk databases & standardised ethical procedures can be poor instruments at capturing actual fieldwork risk. 4/

👉👉An approach which is standard and universal may appear appropriate to governing bodies, but may not be properly responsible, and can lead to mistrust or frustration, rather than enable researchers engaged in fieldwork abroad. 5/

👉👉A university’s approach to fieldwork support should be based on and tailored to the specific risk in each case rather than command-and-control. That puts into practice #AcademicFreedom and also allows researchers to take a more active role in the research ethics process. 6/

🎯What does this look like in practice?🎯
Let's start with a couple of broader institutional measures which can help to assess whether and under what conditions to approve #fieldwork: first, ethics committees should seek external advice regarding high-risk projects. 7/

Second, risk assessment procedures for travel should be light-touch and fully integrated with ethics processes. 8/

Third, supervisors of student and early-career researchers should take professional responsibility for preparing and supporting student and staff fieldwork. 9/

And more specifically, researchers should be encouraged to create support pairs or networks for their fieldwork beyond their immediate colleagues and institutions. 10/

Enhanced travel insurance should be made available. 11/

And just as universities have budgets for Open Access to research findings, they should also allocate specific budgets to support open fieldwork, as well as set aside funds for laptops, phones, tablets and security software and support services. 12/

Finally, for student and early-career researchers, pre-departure training courses and interdisciplinary fieldwork colloquia, focusing on soft skills and the practice of research should be resourced. 13/

You can access the full policy primer on Enabling #fieldwork in Difficult Environments via the
@AFI_WG website: bit.ly/3jrAN12 / end