Communicating With the Public & Land Managers
Even when field research is in remote locations, interactions with people outside of your research team are likely. Depending on the field site, researchers may need to work with the land managers of the site or researchers may encounter other researchers, recreational users of the site--including hikers, boaters, fishermen, bird watchers, hunters, or plant collectors--or local community members. Researchers should always be prepared to effectively communicate why they are conducting research, provide documentation of their authority to be at the site, and be aware of and prepared for the possibility of negative encounters.
The goal of this section is to reduce the risk of negative encounters while in the field through planning, equipping researchers with the proper tools to de-escalate or disengage safely from negative encounters, and outlining mechanisms for reporting and addressing negative interactions after they occur.
Considerations for Minoritized Scientists
Supervisors and team leaders should know the variation in risks their team members may experience during field research. Supervisors should be aware that their own personal experiences, which are shaped by their personal identities, may not enable them to identify risks for team members whose identities differ from their own identity. Team members with marginalized identities can experience housing and food service discrimination or refused service, sexual harassment and assault, hate symbols and hate crimes, or verbal abuse, which all threaten the physical and mental safety and health of those team members. Additionally, just because some team members have previously had positive public interactions at a field location, this does not mean that all team members will find the same social or cultural acceptance at the site. Therefore, supervisors should consider the social and cultural context of research sites for a diversity of research scientist identities, and actively think about how some identities may be at increased risk in some situations.
In the United States, there is racial disparity in violent and dangerous interactions with law enforcement. Black, Indigenous, and Latino Americans are significantly more likely to be killed by police officers than white Americans (Edwards et al. 2019). The vast majority of Black Amercians (84%) say they are treated less fairly than white Americans in dealing with the police, while nearly two-thirds of Black adults and one-third of Hispanic and Asian adults report that they have been in situations where people acted suspicious of them because of their race (Desilver et al. 2020). This means that interactions with law enforcement can be dangerous for some team members and that utilizing law enforcement as emergency contacts may not be viable for all situations.
Before You Go
Supervisors can minimize the possibility of negative encounters with people outside the research team through two pathways: gathering information about the field site and the people who are likely to be encountered there and providing training opportunities to prepare team leaders and members for risky encounters.
Gather information about the field site
All team members should understand the cultural and societal context of the field site and the surrounding community. If the field location is new to a team, supervisors should reach out to other researchers who have worked at the site to gather such information. If team members are working at field stations or field sites run by research organizations, they should talk with field station managers to discuss risk mitigation strategies, sexual harassment policies, and codes of conduct as well as any locations or known individuals that pose extra danger.
If supervisors do not have contacts for other researchers who have used the site, they should visit the field site before conducting field research. During this visit, supervisors should establish connections with property owners, land managers, state officials, or business owners to introduce themselves, their research, and the research team. Because local communities may have different levels of acceptance for researchers whose identities differ from the dominant identity, supervisors should be thoughtful when scouting potential field locations and consider how other team members may be welcomed or whether they may be at heightened risk. If visiting a field site before starting work is not possible, then supervisors may decide that they will not begin field research until they are able to gather more information about the site or ensure that supervisors are present when starting research at a new and unknown field site to connect with site managers, local community members, and assess site safety.
Prioritize field research sites that are safe for everyone
Unfortunately, there are certain field site locations that are embedded within a larger community setting that will be hostile to some team members, regardless of a supervisor’s thoughtful intent and pre-planning. This represents a real and insurmountable barrier for some field biologists and imposes inequity in our profession. Supervisors and team leaders should prioritize field research at locations that are safe for all researchers or that have infrastructure and facilities that are equipped to foster safety, support researchers, and minimize risk. Prioritizing research at field stations that have dedicated, full-time facilities, staff, and a culture of equity and inclusion may be one of the best ways to promote equity in access to and safety at field sites for all researchers.
Train and prepare the team for communicating with the public
Supervisors should work with team leaders and members to develop strategies and practices to employ when they encounter strangers while out in the field. Supervisors and team members should seek relevant training opportunities that increase personal safety (such as self-defense training), increase the safety of colleagues (such as bystander intervention training), or that build awareness of local customs and cultures (such as cultural history courses about field site locations). When these trainings are not available, supervisors can lead their own training using example scenarios of situations that may be encountered at the field site (Appendix 1: Training scenarios for managing interpersonal conflicts). Team members should prepare and learn how to communicate for themselves and advocate or intervene for a team member. While typical science communication training workshops prepare researchers to discuss their work with other researchers or an interested and engaged general audience, researchers should also be prepared to explain their research to a wider and potentially more skeptical audience.
Supervisors and team members should have a plan for researchers to follow should interactions with the public become negative or unsafe and a way to document negative community interactions (Appendix 2: Field safety incident and near-miss log), which will assist in preparing and planning for future field research at that site. Supervisors may also consider sharing this incident log with other researchers or supervisors at their institution who conduct research at that field site to increase accessibility to information about risks to researchers outside of the immediate research group.
Researchers should be encouraged to leave a field site if they feel unsafe and researchers should have multiple emergency contact options. Supervisors should be aware that for some team members, calling emergency services (e.g. 911) or local law enforcement may not be a viable emergency contact, emphasizing the importance of having multiple emergency contacts. Additional emergency contacts may include other research team members, a research supervisor, or a local land manager or owner with whom the researcher has an established relationship.
Acquire research permits and permission
Field research should never be conducted on a property without permission from the owner of the property and discussions with the individuals who are in charge of the day-to-day management of the site. Supervisors should determine what agencies or organizations manage or own the site and what documentation is needed to conduct research at that site with their specified organism(s) of study. Cooperation and communication with multiple agencies or organizations may be necessary to complete official permitting documents. Permits can differ based on who owns and manages the site, what type of organism the team is studying, and whether the field sampling is observation, experimental, or requires removal of materials or organisms from the site. Because obtaining permits can be a complex and lengthy process, supervisors should budget ample time prior to the field season to this task.
Depending on the owner of the potential field site property, it may not be clear who to contact to obtain permission for field research. While most state and federal agencies will have information about permitting on their website, smaller municipalities or private landowners, like land trusts, may not have explicit permitting instructions on their websites or obvious staff to contact for permitting information. If a research team is working near a research field station, supervisors may reach out to the field station’s manager to ask about permitting information for other properties in the area. Supervisors may also try contacting researchers who may have previously worked at a specific site or site managers who manage other sites owned by the same organization or agency. Supervisors should always verify permitting information with the land manager of the site.
Learn all site rules, regulations, and protocols
Once supervisors have acquired permits for field research, they should familiarize themselves with the specific rules and protocols that the land manager or owner requires of permit holders and inform field team leaders and members about relevant rules. Protocols can vary depending on the land manager, ranging from annual reporting on field activities to daily notifications of when the researcher enters and exits the property. Additionally, supervisors should inquire who to contact to report problems--such as vandalism or illegal activities like trash dumping, plant harvesting, logging, or out-of-season hunting--and applicable codes of conduct.
In The Field
Be prepared to provide credentials and permits
While in the field, team members may want to visually distinguish themselves as members of a research team by wearing clothing and field gear that signal institutional or organizational affiliations. Supervisors can assist with this by providing lab or departmental gear like hats, t-shirts, jackets, vests, or field bags with institutional logos or colors. Likewise, some researchers may opt to carry field gear such as binoculars and hiking backpacks that can also signal “field research”.
Similarly, team members should always be prepared to provide ‘credentials’ or documents of affiliation, including trainee identification cards, business cards with the supervisor’s name and contact information, or letters from the supervisor on organizational letterhead. For researchers working in international field sites, carrying passports and/or visa documentation, or at least copies of these documents, may be required or prudent. Researchers should always have multiple copies of research permits or other paperwork in their field bags and vehicles. When team members are not driving vehicles that have visible institutional affiliations, researchers should also have stickers or magnets to place on the exterior of their field vehicle. Team members may also place official letters on institutional letterhead or business cards on the interior of the vehicle dashboard.
Don’t be a bystander
Some team members may be the target of harassment during field research by someone outside the field crew. Team leaders and team members must intervene immediately by actively and visibly supporting the harassed team member by employing strategies learned in team trainings or in bystander training.
Leave unsafe field sites immediately
Interactions can turn negative or unsafe at any point. If a researcher finds themselves in a situation that they feel is unsafe or will become unsafe, researchers should be empowered to leave the field site at their own discretion. If this occurs, researchers should contact their emergency contacts as soon as possible.