Incorporating Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into field-based teaching and research fieldwork

Fieldwork is an important part of teaching in Geography and the Geosciences that can add value to a student’s career progression. Making field classes and research fieldwork as accessible as possible requires taking an enabling approach to their planning, from the location of the field site to details of the daily schedule. Such an approach can promote the progression of a diverse cohort of students and allow the leadership of field classes to be distributed equitably amongst teaching staff. An open dialogue between all participants is important to develop fieldwork that embodies the principles of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). As well as at the planning stage, maintaining such dialogue during the fieldwork enables students and teaching staff to raise concerns and ask for support as needed. However, this approach can be difficult to implement without a wider understanding of the diverse needs of students and researchers and how these affect their ability to participate in fieldwork.

The Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield recently developed an EDI policy for taught field classes to help teaching staff plan accessible field classes in partnership with our students. This talk will introduce key ideas and resources that can be used in planning both taught field classes and fieldwork for postgraduate research projects to enable students to be safe, secure, and productive in the field.