We gathered for the first face to face regional group for Yorkshire & Humberside in November 2022 for a quite some time, and it was really great to see so many of the institutions in the region represented by colleagues. I would first like to thank Leeds Trinity University for their hospitality and support with the event and their Vice Chancellor, Professor Charles Egbu for opening the event.
The theme of the day was 'Emotionally Challenging Research' and in this blog I would like to highlight the excellent research that is being conducted around that subject by outlining some of the papers delivered during the meeting.
The day began with an opening plenary delivered by Professor Sharon Grace (York). Professor Grace reflected upon her extensive research career, at the Home Office and then in academia. Her research has focused upon drug addiction and recovery and on women's offending and contact with the criminal justice system. She set down several themes that would be recurrent across the day's discussions with regard to the role of the researcher, the ethics of research, positionality and reconciling our personal views and beliefs in the research that we do. She also reminded us to consider what matters most with working with stigmatised, disempowered or marginal groups and that through research with respondents, in this case, women and in collaboration with other colleagues is enhanced and more powerful through that collective endeavour.
The next set of speakers were formed a panel which centred on aspects of prison research. Sarah Waite (LTU) reflected upon the challenges of undertaking research in a prison, speaking about her own experiences of trust and distrust in this environment. Drawing on her experiences she examines how distrust manifested and impacted on her research – recruiting respondents, moving around the prison, disrupting interviews for example and on her own position as a researcher. Tracey Hardy's (Huddersfield) ongoing research examines how family members construct and manage their identities after the conviction of a family member for a serious offence. She discussed her own positionality, with a background in nursing, and a family member who was convicted for a serious offence. She discussed the ways in which she balanced and managed the insider/outsider tensions, trending the line as an outsider, how much to reveal, when that might be appropriate and how to open up difficult conversations. Andi Brierley (LTU) also discussed his own positionality as a youth justice practitioner and as someone with lived experience of custody. He reflected upon his own liminal position as someone who has moved from a prison sentence to a practice role in criminal justice, highlighting the value of end users experiences yet their absence in prison practice. He explored how his position as insider and outsider, peer and editor came to the fore in the editing of a new collection on prison officer practice.
The three afternoon papers also dealt with issues of positionality and the sensitive nature of sociological and criminological research. Clare Beckett-Wrighton's (Bradford) research on the partners of trans adults opened a range of questions about the research process and her own positionality. As a researcher, a feminist and out lesbian she did not at first question an opportunity to research the long-term partners of adults who had transitioned. However, she had to work hard in various settings with not only an isolated and silenced group but one where her own positionality was often assumed. Jade Gilbourne (York) is researching the experiences of adults who have had sexual images shared without their consent. Advocating the use of a continuum of sexual image abuse she discussed the ways in which language is not always available to voice people's experiences. She also reflected upon the role of the researcher in gathering and exploring people's own experiences of victimisation and the balance between seeking to prioritise people's experiences and voices against doing 'no harm'.
The final paper of the day by Morag Kennedy and Michelle Cunliffe (Nottingham Trent University) drew on their research on the emotional impact of PhD research. Employing questionnaires and interviews with PhD researchers at a range of locations/topics/year of study/disciplines the study has so far engaged with around 100 respondents. The study funded by NTU has begun to illuminate some of the challenges faced by PhD researchers, for example, in the area of mental health, but also the positive and negative aspects of supervision and as well important questions about why researchers may not seek help when they are faced with such challenges.
The BSC's Yorkshire & Humberside Regional Group meetings are a positive and inviting forum for discussion, with the aim to welcome submissions from all researchers. Hopefully this blog highlights the variety of research and research disciplines of the BSC regional members, and we hope it encourages you to take part in the next regional group. The meeting will be at Sheffield Hallam University on Weds 8th March 2023 – the theme is Social Justice Research: Making Change Happen? We look froward to seeing you there.
About the author
Helen Johnston, Professor of Criminology, is the current BSC regional group lead for Yorkshire and Humberside and works at the University of Hull.
Contact
Helen Johnston
Professor of Criminology
University of Hull
H.Johnston@hull.ac.uk
@cccjhull
This article gives the views of the author, not the position of the British Society of Criminology or the institution they work for.
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