Researcher Wellbeing and Emotionally Challenging Research

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

Criminal justice and criminological researchers undertake studies on challenging topics, aiming to deepen our understanding, a journey that often leads us into some of the most disturbing and distressing aspects of the human experience and some environments that are difficult to navigate safely. There is growing recognition that undertaking this type of research can pose many difficulties for researchers, including distress, secondary, vicarious and primary trauma, yet there are few examples of managing their wellbeing effectively. After a successful launch of this panel session at the European Society of Criminology Conference in Romania in 2024, this panel returns with new speakers to further acknowledge and evidence the challenges inherent in our research. The panel will also seek to provide theoretical and practical suggestions for ways to both understand and address this issue. We end the panel with a discussion of the role that professional societies might play in leading the way in addressing the long-neglected issue of researcher wellbeing; including progress we have made and barriers we have faced– and may come to face - when taking this forward within the academic community, our own institutions and nations.

At the end of the session, Professor Michele Burman PhD (panel Chair), and the panel convenors Dr Tina Skinner and Dr Linnéa Österman invite the panel and interested members of the audience to join us in the coffee and/or lunch break to continue a discussion about the importance of maintaining researcher wellbeing and the role that universities and professional societies might play in providing best practice guidance to address researcher wellbeing more effectively.

Subtopic

• Topic 1: Perspectives on Crime and Criminal Behavior / Feminist Criminology (Gender, Crime and Justice WG)

Chair

• Michele Jane Burman, University of Glasgow

Individual Presentations

• Trauma Interactions in Emotionally Demanding Research: Understanding How Content, Context and Culture Influence Researcher Experiences - Stacey Scriver, University of Galway, Ireland; Lorraine Hayman, University of Galway, Ireland

• Navigating the personal and the practical in feminist qualitative research with women with experiences of crime and criminal justice - Linnéa Österman, Gothenburg University

• Why a trauma-informed approach could help save higher education in Ukraine - Anna Markovska, IPPPRI Anglia Ruskin University; Oleksii Serdiuk, Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs, Ukraine/ Head of Research Laboratory for Psychological Support of Law Enforcement; Iryna Soldatenko, Karazin Kharkiv National University; Alessia Mevoli, Anglia Ruskin University

• The scientization of social life…some reflections on life as a criminologist - Loraine Gelsthorpe, University of Cambridge

• Emotionally challenging research: a strategic vision for change - Tina Nicola Skinner, University of Bath