Research Ethics: Developing Best Practice for Researching in the Global South

Date:

20/05/2019 - 21/05/2019

Organised by:

University of Sheffield

Presenter:

Dr Daniel Hammett

Level:

Intermediate (some prior knowledge)

Contact:

Daniel Hammett - D.Hammett@sheffield.ac.uk

Map:

View in Google Maps  (S3 7ND)

Venue:

Geography and Planning Building, Winter Street, Sheffield

Description:

This event comprises a two day workshop exploring and developing best practice for research ethics when working in the global south. Core research ethics training is primarily focused upon expected conditions and challenges of conducting research in the minority Global North. As a result, much training fails to consider the added ethical challenges and complexities encountered when designing and conducting research in the global south. The need to address this challenge is particularly timely given the growing emphasis on the internationalisation and decolonisation of the discipline, increasing popular and political attention to the ethical conduct of development researchers and charities, as well as the growing role of the Global Challenges Research Fund in framing HE research.

Within the workshop we will:

  • Tackle current weaknesses in (geographical) research ethics training due to an implicit bias towards work conducted in the global north
  • Deliver advanced discussion and training around best practice for geographical research in the global south
  • Develop and provide a set of teaching resources addressing the conduct of ethical research in the global south which can be incorporated into undergraduate and postgraduate research ethics training

 

 

Through a partnership between the Department of Geography (University of Sheffield), the Sheffield Institute for International Development (SIID), and the Sheffield Methods Institute (SMI), with funding from SIID, the British International Studies Association (BISA) and the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) this two-day workshop will deliver a series of activities aimed at developing a set of resources to address concerns of conducting research in the global south. While these resources will be heavily drawn from and orientated towards geographers, we will draw upon expertise from public health, political science, anthropology and other social science disciplines to generate inter-disciplinary learning and best practice. 

 

 

The workshop will include reflective and conceptual plenary papers on research ethics for/in the global south, discussion sessions, as well as participatory activities, scenario-based activities and space for practice-orientated discussion.

All participants involved in the workshop are asked to submit an abstract for a 5 minute informal presentation (please add your abstracrt details here: https://goo.gl/forms/TofaCRM1h4OIbrKl2) on topics which include, but are not limited to:-

·         Practicalities and ethics (including discussions about power, positionality, etcetera)

·         Gender & difference

·         Working in repressive contexts - risks to researcher & participants

·         Emotions and mental health – researcher & participants

·         External pressures – including. working with external partners, collaborators and funders

·         Politics of representation – who speaks, etcetera

·         Digital data and methods

·         Social media – as method and as representation

·         Participant safety

·         Participatory and innovative methods

·         Equality and who gains?

·         Informed consent

·         Payment for participation and giving back

·         Working with elites

·         Health-related research and data

·         Archives and historical analysis

·         Sensitive topics

·         Vulnerable groups

·         Access

·         Covert research and levels of governmentality and surveillance

·         Working with assistants and translators

·         Researcher and donor fatigue

·         What is collaborative research?

·         Different forms of research – from field classes to lone researchers, to accompanied fieldwork

Cost:

Free

Website and registration:

Region:

Yorkshire and Humberside

Keywords:

Confidentiality and Anonymity, Research Ethics

Related publications and presentations:

Confidentiality and Anonymity
Research Ethics

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