Overview

The ‘Protecting the Investigator in Traumatic Research Areas’ working group (PETRA) focuses on the development, dissemination and adoption of universal best practice guidelines to support researchers working in areas of Digital Humanities where there is potential for secondary trauma, such as (but not limited to) genocide studies, issues around hate-crimes, and historical or contemporary discrimination or persecution. Over an 18-month period, the working group aims to facilitate collaborative strategies for ethical and introspective research with colleagues across a range of disciplines and sectors in the UK and Ireland that engage in DH work and research (e.g. spatial humanities, text editing, digital editions, minimal computing etc.). This will also include a range of collections managers, curators and data managers working across GLAM organisations such as archives, special collections and museums. As a community interest group, we will review current practices in place to address mental health needs among researchers and practitioners at all career levels, and identify any gaps in the sector regarding knowledge of the phenomenon among those that may be impacted by it. We will achieve this through a combination of desk research, consultation exercises, and a workshop where researchers and practitioners can share experiences and strategies for working in fields where secondary trauma is a possibility. Ultimately, our aim is to determine a set of Best Practice Guidelines that can be made available and disseminated among those working in DH in the UK and Ireland, with a further option for developing training resources to support their adoption and implementation.

Coordinators

Vicky Garnett (Trinity College Dublin/DARIAH-EU) and Kristen Schuster (University of Southampton)

Contact the group by emailing Vicky.Garnett@tcd.ie

Download the original proposal to learn more about the group.