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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Briony CarlinORCiD, Dr Tina SikkaORCiD, Professor Peter Hopkins, Dr Laura Braunholtz, Dr Louise MairORCiD, Dr Zarah PattisonORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Fieldwork is an important component of data collection in environmental sciences and other related disciplines. Sensitive to the ways in which field based environmental sciences (FBES) research is often unsafe and lacks inclusivity, we explore findings from a mixed methods study that identified barriers to inclusion and overlooked risks to safety for FBES researchers. We found that gender and gender identity presented a direct risk for discrimination, harassment, and violence in the field (63.8% of cis females and 100% of nonbinary/genderqueer respondents). Sexuality, race, and ethnicity also posed a risk to FBES researchers with 88.3% of respondents stating that marginalised groups are underrepresented in FBES. Over half of our respondents stated class and socio-economic background to be a barrier to their participation in FBES research due to job precarity and lack of funding. These risks and barriers experienced by researchers can lead to a lack of novelty in environmental science. As such, we argue that we need to increase diversity whilst reducing risks in FBES and cultivate a more prosperous, safe, and empowered research culture.
Author(s): Carlin B, Sikka T, Hopkins P, Braunholtz L, Mair L, Pattison Z
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Studies in Higher Education
Year: 2023
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 30/10/2023
Acceptance date: 18/10/2023
Date deposited: 18/10/2023
ISSN (print): 0307-5079
ISSN (electronic): 1470-174X
Publisher: Routledge
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2274378
DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2023.2274378
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