Recognition and ethical research practices: The role of community specialists

Researchers engaged in long-term disaster research are uniquely positioned to influence, inform, and shape long-term disaster recovery trajectories of communities being studied. For this reason, it is crucial for researchers to be critical of their methodological choices and make ethical decisions about the research methods they employ to generate and communicate data. In this article, we argue that making ethical decisions about research processes requires an emphasis on recognition, the acknowledgment, and respect of difference, a key pillar of environmental justice. We share an experience implementing a long-term disaster research protocol (Project Building Resilience through Innovation and Diverse Group Engagement) that includes the deliberate involvement of community members in the research process as Community Specialists and discuss how their engagement contributed to recognition and more ethical research practices. Throughout the article, we provide a blueprint for other long-term disaster researchers seeking to integrate Community Specialists into their own work and discuss potential implementation barriers and recommendations to overcome challenges.