Working Collaboratively with Marginalised Communities: Research Ethics and Methods

A full-day event involving academic presentations, a roundtable on ethics in practice with community partners and Loughborough's research ethics team, and a world café exploring topics such as informed consent and well-being. Organised by Azmeary Ferdoush (Geography, Migration, Borders and Mobility group), Robyn Smith (SSEHS) and Alena Pfoser (Communication and Media, LUSARG).

Key note speaker: Professor Maggie O'Neill, University College Cork

Amid the current global poly-crisis context, marginalised populations are disproportionately impacted. These groups experience intersecting challenges related to age, socio-economic status, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability, and race. In alignment with Loughborough University’s 2030 Strategy, researchers have a growing responsibility to partner with these groups, embedding EDI within their research practices to tackle social inequities and foster vibrant and inclusive communities.

Despite growing recognition of the need for equitable and ethical research, marginalised communities have historically, and continue to experience, harm and limited mutual benefit from research (Tuhiwai Smith, 2021). Researchers often navigate complex ethical challenges, including power hierarchies, informed consent, and trust and reciprocity, in isolation. Many are themselves from marginalised backgrounds and experience increased risk of secondary trauma, compromising wellbeing and research integrity.

This one-day event aims to create a conversation on how to do ethical and collaborative research with marginalised populations. It seeks to foster a space for reflection, dialogue and peer support, bringing together academics of different career stages and disciplines and community partners and members.

Find out more information about the programme of the day on the IAS website.