Viewpoint: acknowledging trauma in academic research

Abstract

Abstract This article contributes to current discussions about researcher trauma and encourages academic institutions to implement the systems of support that are required to make research work psychologically safe. Currently, conversations of research-related trauma have not produced institutional changes in academia due to a dominant masculinist rationale that sees research as an emotionless job aimed at achieving an objective account of reality. However, we argue that recognition of the emotions felt while doing research can improve the wellbeing of researchers, inform findings, and enrich overall scholarship. We call for academic institutions to allocate the necessary resources to further research on research-related trauma across disciplines and methods and to set in place systems of support centred on an ethics of care to help prevent, address and overcome researcher trauma.