BSA Postgraduate Forum Event: The Promise and Perils of Researching Sensitive Issues

20 November 2018 (09:00-17:00)

Call for papers
Research concerning sensitive and emotionally demanding issues is vital but challenging work in which the onus of care tends to be placed directly on the researcher. These issues may be internal or external, ethical or emotional, or concern the researcher or participant.

As stated in the BSA Statement of Ethical Practice (2017, §12) as researchers we havea ‘responsibility to ensure that the physical, social and psychological well-being ofresearch participants is not adversely affected by the research’. As such, it is the aim of this one-day symposium to offer an opportunity to consider, in a safe and supportive environment of peers, the challenges presented in the conducting of sensitive research, for both participant and researcher, on issues concerning, but not limited to: abuse, atrocity, death, dying, gender, grief, loss, marginalisation, mental health, violence, racism(s) self-harm, sexuality, stigma, trauma and xenophobia(s). Alongside a keynote address from Dr Donna Poade (University of Exeter) we welcome abstracts for papers lasting twenty-minutes.

We welcome abstracts engaging with the above discussed themes, but not limited to:

• Emotional labour and emotion work
• Facing emotions within research
• Responsibility to participants and self
• Sensitive methodologies
• The presentation of sensitive research
• Ethical issues associated with sensitive research
• The place of the researcher
  
  Submitting an abstract
  Abstracts of no more than 200 words should be supplied, along with a biography of up to 100 words to rosii@york.ac.uk by no later than 31 August 2018.
  
  Event details
  The symposium will be held at the University of York and is being convened by Matt Coward (matt.coward@york.ac.uk) and Daniel Robins (daniel.robins@york.ac.uk). It isgenerously supported by the British Sociological Association’s Postgraduate Forum regional day event fund with assistance from DaCNet: Interdisciplinary Death & Culture Research (www.york.ac.uk/dacnet)
  
  Registration
  BSA Members - £5.00
  Non-Members - £15.00https://portal.britsoc.co.uk/public/event/eventBooking.aspx?id=EVT10749