The Field Safety Subcommittee and the LTER Network Office have collected this curated list of field safety resources, focusing on risks that arise in the various settings of the LTER Network. These may include remote, rural, urban, and ocean-going locations and risks may include weather, terrain, equipment, and other humans.  The LTER Network Office includes a Resource of the Month in every newsletter and we welcome contributed resources.

“The show must go on!” Fieldwork, mental health and wellbeing in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

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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

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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

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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 »

Report of the Workshop to Promote Safety in Field Sciences

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Report of the Workshop to Promote Safety in Field Sciences that was organized by CSU Desert Studies and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership on 24-26 March 2021. The workshop resulted in 52 recommendations targeted at improving field science culture change, as well as misconduct accountability, policy, and reporting. The recommendations focus on improving experiences for… Read more »

In the Field

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This curated set of resources presents recent research on how to ensure safe, accessible and inclusive field experiences, which center on the adoption and enforcement of rules for appropriate behavior.

Stopping Harassment and Assault

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NSF’s statement on harassment and assault which includes requirements instructions on reporting misconduct.

Towards Safe and Inclusive Field Teaching Experiences

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This document is a specific list of recommendations for safer and more inclusive field experiences from the Anti-Racism Action Committee from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, at the University of California, Davis.

FieldFutures

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More than half of field participants report experiencing sexual harassment while doing fieldwork, and one in five report assault. To combat this, FieldFutures offers a suite of interactive trainings developed by a team of field researchers at UC Santa Cruz.