Help Us Understand & Improve Fieldwork for Parents in the Arctic & Beyond

Have you ever had to juggle the ins-and-outs of organizing child-care while also planning for fieldwork? Have you brought your child into the field with you? Or, do you have an Early Career Researcher in your research group that you're looking to support through this reality? If so, then we hope you'll participate in our survey which seeks to gather insights on the intersection of parenting and field-based research.

What inspired this research?

The idea for this survey was born out of Christine Liang’s (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) experience of both accompanied and unaccompanied fieldwork during the first field season of the Horizon Europe-funded ICEBERG project. Reflecting on a wide range of questions faced by parents prior to and during fieldwork, Christine joined forces with Tahnee Prior (WoA), who is leading the task to develop a living Code of Conduct for the ICEBERG project. Thus, with a clear equity- and gender-dimension, this survey falls under the purview of the project’s Work Package 4, which focuses on issues related to co-creation, knowledge co-production, ethics, gender, fairness, equity, and citizen science.

Want to know more about who we are? Read our profile here.

Why should you participate?

The purpose of this survey is to explore the intersection of parenting and fieldwork experiences. As researchers balancing the demands of field-based research with family life, your insights are invaluable. This survey aims to understand the challenges and strategies employed by parents in the field (both apart from children and during accompanied fieldwork), with the ultimate goal of enhancing support systems and resources for those navigating similar paths.

Who can participate?

The survey is open to all researchers who have conducted fieldwork while in a parental role, either currently or in the past. We consider fieldwork broadly as any research or data collecting outside of the context of one's regular office, laboratory, or classroom setting.

This survey is *not* specific to the Arctic context, but is open to those conducting fieldwork in all areas of the world.

The more responses we receive, the more accurate and realistic our results will be.

Please forward this survey onto colleagues who you think would be interested in participating.

What will the survey achieve?

With your help, we can better understand the fieldwork experiences of parents. Our analysis will shed light on:

• experiences with accompanied fieldwork (bringing one’s families into the field);

• experiences with unaccompanied fieldwork (apart from one's families); and

• the landscape of institutional support and policies for parents conducting fieldwork

We are planning to present preliminary results at the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning IV in March 2025 and at the European Geosciences Union in April 2025. However, the survey will remain open for submissions on a rolling basis, until further notice.

Take the survey today!

You can find the survey here: https://survey.hifis.dkfz.de/953374?lang=en

This survey will take 10-20 minutes to complete, including multiple choice questions and the option to elaborate on your answers with the free-form text. All questions are voluntary. 

Your responses will remain confidential and anonymous, and we do not ask for any identifying information or contact details. All personal data is handled according to the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) of the EU.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

This survey falls under the purview of Work Package 4 of the ICEBERG project, which focuses on issues related to co-creation, knowledge co-production, ethics, gender, fairness, equity, and citizen science.Please direct any questions or comments regarding this survey to Christine Liang (christine.liang@ufz.de) and Tahnee Prior (tahnee@genderisnotplanb.com).

Thank you for being a part of this important research by participating in this survey. Together, we can work towards a research community that is more supportive of parents and caregivers more broadly!