Abstract

This symposium aims to help participants consider circumstances and situations which may be encountered when exploring ‘sensitive’ topics and how they may navigate these.
Within this session we shall explore how a researcher’s positionality has the power to provide opportunities and challenges within their research. We will briefly explore the literature around researcher positionality considering underpinning principles such as reflexivity, insider-outsider research, and trauma informed principles. Using the theoretical underpinning we shall then expand on our own experiences as researchers, practitioners, and individuals.
Jointly we have experience within Social Work, Nursing, Healthcare and Higher Education and are both undertaking doctoral study. Within this we are considering our own positionality and how this may influence our research and the effects which it may have. By speaking about our journeys, we hope to illuminate the opportunities to maintain researcher health and wellbeing and share these with the audience.