The Researcher Wellbeing Project Report

The Researcher Wellbeing Project (RWP) focused on understanding the potential impacts, including secondary trauma, of researching emotionally challenging topics; and establishing what, if anything, researchers have in place to help them cope and what they would like to be in place. The overwhelming reception the RWP has received from staff has been very positive, because it addresses a topic that has been “a really invisible issue” (Participant 22) within academia until very recently. The project involved 31 semi-structured interviews with researchers who did potentially emotionally challenging research. These participants were also asked to do follow-up questionnaires; 25 completed the coping mechanisms/interventions questionnaire and 20 completed the Secondary Trauma Scale. In this report, we outline the key findings of the RWP related to: (i) impacts and (ii) coping mechanisms and recommended support/interventions. The RWP identified that academics undertaking potentially distressing research in the majority are inspired and driven by the research they do. However, it in turn has substantial impacts on the researchers, most of whom had symptoms that could be linked to secondary trauma at varying degrees. How well researchers coped with such emotionally challenging research was not just about them as individuals. It was about how well they were supported by the systems that were around them. Thus, individual researchers’ knowledge, skills and experience contributed, alongside how effective supervisors/managers were in designing projects and managing teams/individuals, as well as how much positive/supportive interactions researchers got within teams, and how much thought and investment an institution put into how researchers were looked after. Ideally, institutions that undertake and fund research on emotionally challenging topics need to put plans in place to develop a well-funded strategy focused on prevention of and provision for distress and secondary trauma linked to emotionally challenging research. For institutions that are unable to do this fully, a phased approach working towards this would be a viable option. To help organisations to do this, the report provides guidance on Bronze, Silver and Gold levels that institutions can adopt to support academics.