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Environments and attitudes that champion safety and inclusivity of all participants drive successful fieldwork
The ocean never announced itself as the safest place to work. Nor is the island itself. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t intentional actions that we can take to maximize the safety and inclusivity in our work environment on Moorea. For those new to the field, some of the resources to help us maintain this type of environment can be difficult to find.
We’ve collated a few these resources with the help of the Gump field station staff (on site and know the in-and-out of the Station), the LTER-MCR (Long-Term Ecological Research team, who know how to navigate many of these resources), University of California Berkeley (who serve as the “home team” of visiting scientists), and the Moorea community (whose relationship with visiting researchers is essential to the health and safety of those on Station).
We are LGBTQIA+ in the field. We are POC in the field. We are women in the field. We are disabled in the field. We are ethnic minorities in the field. We are any minority in the field. We are intersectional and honestly a little stressed out in the field. We are human in the field.
Sometimes we need support while at Gump. Fieldwork can be isolating and scary. Reach out before something important breaks.
Resources
Continued Reading
Keep talking to make fieldwork a true team effort. Osiecka, Nature 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04416-7
Safe fieldwork strategies for at-risk individuals, their supervisors and institutions. Claire Demery & Pipkin. Nature. 2020. Nat Ecol Evo. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01328-5
A set of principles and practical suggestions for equitable fieldwork in biology. Ramírez-Castañeda, V., Westeen, EP, Frederick, J, Tarvin, R. 2022. PNAS. 119 (34) e2122667119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122667119.
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