Monthly blog updating on the progress of my SCAR Fellowship project: “Setting an agenda for disability-focused research in Antarctic Humanities and Social Sciences”.
March has gone by in a flash, and it may already be April but I have good reason for delaying this blog: the survey is out, and the translated versions are finally ready!
This means we're now in phase 2 of the project: community survey. As a recap, the ultimate goal of my SCAR Fellowship is to produce, with community input, a list of priority questions for Antarctic humanities and social sciences scholars to focus on in relation to disability within the Antarctic community. The survey, now live, represents part 1 of the 'community input' element of the equation.
Key survey information:
Who can answer the survey?
Anyone who works in the Antarctic community. This includes researchers, but also arts and heritage sector, the tourism industry, and professional services staff in research institutions, for example
You don't have to be a field scientist - if you've never set foot on so much as an icy puddle, I still want to hear from you!
I'm also interested in relevant insights from people whose work focuses on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and/or other extreme environments like the Arctic and outer space
You don't have to have a disability, or a formal diagnosis. I am particularly interested in hearing from disabled people.
Translations:
The survey is available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Portuguese
Why these languages? French, Spanish and Russian are the languages used by the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, and therefore a useful guide for translation; I have limited time and funds and needed a practical way to delimit translation plans.
I'm an English researcher hosted by a Portuguese researcher, hence the Portuguese version
Practical information:
The survey should take 10 - 20 minutes depending on how much detail you give and your reading speed
Full details of the contents of the survey are given on the participant information page, which is the first page of the survey.
All questions are optional except the consent form on page 2 of the survey; if you don't click 'yes' to all of these you will not be able to proceed
The survey is anonymous, but there is an option to leave your email address at the end if you'd like to be kept up to date with news and future opportunities for participation.
I've been reading...
This hard-to-read but critically important piece about sexual harassment and violence faced by women on Antarctic fieldwork: These Women Came to Antarctica for Science. Then the Predators Emerged.
This piece hammers home for me that EDI work is absolutely critical within Antarctic research. Without the women who were brave enough to share their stories, without the dedicated work of researchers like Professor Meredith Nash to bring these issues to light and effect change, the Antarctic community would be free to keep on ignoring the dark side of life in the field. When we dismiss the experiences of minority groups within Antarctic science we leave them open to discrimination, harassment, and violence. This part of the article stands out:
"Only two other countries have guidelines in place for reporting sexual assault and harassment in their programs. Many nations with a presence in Antarctica don’t have workplace harassment laws at all. As Nash puts it, some of those other countries “are going to have to have their own moment of reckoning.”"
It's not hard to image similar articles about disability. And we need to be thinking about not just what it's like to be a woman, or disabled, but also what it means to be a disabled woman, or BAME and disabled, and so on. Intersectional approaches to diversity in Antarctic science are of vital importance.
A piece of joy
To end on a lighter note, I wanted to share something fun at the end of this post. One of my absolute favourite things about March in the UK is the brief few days when magnolias are in full bloom. There are several beautiful pink and white magnolias near where I live, and they always cheer me up.
As a bonus bit of joy, and possibly a bit of showing off, I also submitted my hardbound thesis, marking the final step (except graduation) on my PhD journey. I was particularly pleased with the lovely light blue colour! If you want to know more about my PhD, titled 'A historical geography of Halley Research Station, Antarctica, 1956 - present', visit the PhD section of this website.
[Image description: a photo grid consisting of four photos. The top two are of magnolia blossoms; the top left is a pink magnolia against a blue sky with some white fluffy clouds, and the top right is a white magnolia tree against a similar sky. The bottom left image is a photo of white blossoms on a different variety of tree. The bottom right image is my hardbound doctoral thesis, bound in light blue, with the title written in gold text on the cover. I am holding it up in a garden with grass and blossom in the background, on a sunny day.]
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