Summary
Research holds great potential to both heal and harm—both ourselves and the communities we engage with. This session will help you to understand these impacts, and learn best practices to reduce harm and foster healing ethically and responsibly.
Key Insights
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Research is not neutral; it carries power and responsibility.
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Urgency culture in research fosters unethical and harmful practices.
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Researchers must navigate ethical dilemmas without formal guardrails or oversight.
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Moral injury within research occurs when harm becomes normalized or ignored.
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The questions we ask in research shape whose voices are heard and valued.
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Research can be a tool for healing or a mechanism for harm, depending on its execution.
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The need for a code of care in research practices is essential for ethical accountability.
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Institutions must create frameworks to prevent harm, rather than leaving ethics to individual discretion.
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Slowing down processes in research can lead to more ethical and thoughtful outcomes.
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Research should prioritize community care and participant agency over institutional efficiency.
Notable Quotes
"Research is always embedded in power structures and historical context."
"You can't be neutral on a moving train."
"When research is used to justify exclusion, is this not trauma by design."
"Moral injury is a crisis of values."
"Minimizing harm doesn't erase it; it simply makes it easier to ignore."
"Moving fast isn't just breaking things; it's breaking people."
"The urgency trap prioritizes outputs over relationships."
"Slow is smooth and smooth is fast."
"Research should prioritize moving with care and building with."
"Research shapes the world and must be conducted ethically and responsibly."
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