Working in the Field: New Solutions for Old Problems
Recommendations for solving issues for many women conducting field work.
Signaling Safety: Characterizing Fieldwork Experiences and Their Implications for Career Trajectories
This study presents a qualitative analysis of field researchers’ experiences based on interviews, focusing on both positive and negative aspects of conducting academic research in the field. It identifies two main issues: unclear professional behavior guidelines at field sites and difficulties accessing professional resources and opportunities. Respondents reported a lack of consequences for breaches of… Read more »
The Challenges of Fieldwork for LGBTQ+ Geoscientists
This article summarizes survey findings of LGBTQ+ scientists in the geosciences community and highlights the unique challenges they face.
Mental health in the field
This article speaks to the importance of mental health in field work and summarizes the factors that impact mental health in the field.
Safety and Belonging in the Field: A Checklist for Educators
A comprehensive checklist that seeks to make fieldwork a “positive, generative, collective, and valuable experience for all participants.” Written by authors with a wide range of backgrounds and field experiences, this document stresses inclusivity over each step in the fieldwork process, from planning to the return and debrief.
Playing It Safe: Recognizing and Managing Risk When Working With Students in the Field
A website from NAGT with resources and recommendations on field safety including being prepared for emergencies, reducing risk, and protecting yourself and your department when taking students out into the field.
Toilet stops in the field: An educational primer and recommended best practices for field-based teaching
This document is intended to educate staff and students about toilet stops and menstruation in the field. This document also contains a set of recommendations for field work and field trips with the aim of minimizing stress and anxiety for all parties.
“The show must go on!” Fieldwork, mental health and wellbeing in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Fieldwork is central to the identity, culture and history of academic Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES). However, in this paper we recognize that, for many academic staff, field trips can be a profoundly challenging “ordeal,” ill-conducive to wellness or effective pedagogic practice. Drawing on research with 39 UK university-based GEES academics who self-identify as… Read more »
Mental Health and Fieldwork
Successful fieldwork and fruitful academic careers hinge on acknowledging and managing our mental health. This paper discusses peer-support networks, secondary trauma, coping skills, therapy, and researchers’ mental health options before, during, and after fieldwork.
Not just muddy and not always gleeful? Thinking about the physicality of fieldwork, mental health, and marginality
This paper acknowledges that geographical fieldwork and fieldtrips can be deeply stressful, anxiety-inducing, troubling, miserable, hard and exclusionary for many colleagues, students and pupils. This paper draws on on qualitative data from research with UK university-based Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) academics who self-identify as having mental health conditions which substantially affect their daily… Read more »
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