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University’s Inclusive Fieldwork Hub publishes ‘PRIDE Guidelines’ to promote ‘safe, inclusive’ field research

A new video series on “safe, inclusive and equitable fieldwork” from the University of Leeds says many “LGBTQ+ people” avoid studying in the field due to “fear over their toilet needs.”

The British university’s Inclusive Fieldwork Hub published the animated “PRIDE Guidelines” videos this month as a resource for higher education institutions, a news release states.

One video about the “challenges of LGBTQ+ field researchers” mentions a university fieldworker’s concerns about non-“inclusive” bathrooms.

LGBTQ+ students sometimes avoid field work where they feel “unsafe,” according to the video.

For example, “the fear over their toilet needs is one of the big barriers,” an unnamed Leeds fieldworker says in the video. “I think we’ve got a siloing effect of who ends up going to do field-based research that starts quite early on in the education system.”

When LGBTQ+ researchers do participate in field work, it often comes at a “cost” to their “mental health,” according to the video.

“You’re not going to do your best work when you are using an amount of energy, sometimes a lot of energy to keep yourself safe by not behaving a [certain] way. It’s exhausting,” another fieldworker says in the video.

According to the news release:

The guidelines advocate for peers involved in fieldwork to listen to LGBTQ+ colleagues before and during planning, to conduct risk assessments with inclusivity in mind, and to be an active ally throughout and after fieldwork, regardless of whether LGBTQ+ colleagues are ‘out’ or known to be participating in the work.

The guidelines contain detailed, practical steps to applying inclusivity and equity across all fieldwork.

Robin Hayward, an environmental scholar at the university, said she and other researchers developed the guidelines after interviewing focus groups of field researchers connected with the university.

“Isolation and a lack of community can be a big issue within fieldwork settings,” Hayward said in the news release. “Something particularly powerful about these focus groups was coming together with other LGBTQ+ fieldworkers and recognising that we are not alone. Every story is unique but there is so much we can learn from to support each other.”

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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: A video by University of Leeds scholars describes the “challenges of LGBTQ+ field researchers.” University of Leeds/YouTube

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