Research Safety

The increasing securitization of fieldwork force us to systematically think through fieldwork carried out in authoritarian settings, or with marginalized communities, in the Global South and Global North. The session assists you in how to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment; context analysis, vulnerabilities and capacities assessment and security plan. The assessment is important for you, but also for your research assistants/”fixers”, and interlocutors.

Lecture (30 min), one group

Comprehensive risk assessment – Why? When? How?
Lecture on the different steps – context analysis, vulnerabilities/capacities assessment, and security plan, including digital risk assessment.

Reflect and document (40 min), smaller groups

Context analysis and Vulnerabilities and capacities

Step 1. Context analysis: Do a threat profile based on factors external to the project and the researcher/research team. Detail the types of threat you might face during your field work. Focus on the actors who oppose or support the research project.
Step 2. Vulnerabilities and capacities: Do an assessment of the researcher/research team related to the threat profile. Focus on elements of the researcher’s identities and individual characteristics (gender, sexuality, experience, language skills, etc.) and elements of the research project (methods, etc.).

BREAK 15 min

Reflect and document (30 min), smaller groups

Step 3. Security plan: Design a security plan that takes into consideration your vulnerabilities and capacities. Focus on mitigating strategies; both preventive measures and protective measures.

Summing up, one group (15 min)

Final reflections – what did we learn from the exercise?

To do after session

Finalize the risk assessment (all three steps)
Start to implement the first steps

Resources

Grimm, J. et al. (2020) Safer Field Research in the Social Sciences. London: SAGE. (Chapter: 2, 3, in particular).