Moving beyond the physical: how higher education institute ethics processes do and should address the emotional risks of gender-based violence research

Emotional impacts on researchers doing gender-based violence (GBV) research are well-documented. Risks to emotional safety arise from different research methods, and researchers report a range of coping strategies to mitigate effects. Emotional safety is especially resonant for GBV research, in which feminist methods often involve the researcher not in the traditional role of ‘neutral observer’ but in that of an active, engaged respondent. An emergent body of literature calls on higher education institutions (HEIs) to recognise risks to researchers’ emotional as well as physical safety. Yet to date there has been little appraisal of how HEI ethics panels and processes are responding to these calls. This empirical article presents findings from a new survey of 74 GBV researchers applying to, and reviewing for, UK HEI ethics panels. It dissects how the emotional safety of GBV researchers is currently assessed and identifies promising practice. Addressing traditional research norms and the dominant biomedical approach to ethics which privileges physical over emotional safety, the authors argue for a shift to reflexive, feminist, trauma-informed ethics practices which meaningfully engage with researcher emotional wellbeing. Recommendations which have application in the UK and internationally are made to strengthen ethics processes in a proportionate and non-tokenistic way.