Researcher Wellbeing and Best Practices in Emotionally Demanding Research
Jessica L. Feuston, Arpita Bhattacharya, Nazanin Andalibi, Elizabeth Ankrah, Sheena Erete, Mark Handel, Wendy Moncur, Sarah Vieweg, Jed R. Brubaker
Abstract
HCI researchers increasingly conduct emotionally demanding research in a variety of different contexts. Though scholarship has begun to address the experiences of HCI researchers conducting this work, there is a need to develop guidelines and best practices for researcher wellbeing. In this one-day CHI workshop, we will bring together a group of HCI researchers across sectors and career levels who conduct emotionally demanding research to discuss their experiences, self-care practices, and strategies for research. Based on these discussions, we will work with workshop attendees to develop best practices and guidelines for researcher wellbeing in the context of emotionally demanding HCI research; launch a repository of community-sourced resources for researcher wellbeing; document the experiences of HCI researchers conducting emotionally demanding research; and establish a community of HCI researchers conducting this type of work.