About SRN Midlands

A Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP Student Network

Who we are

We are SRN Midlands (the Sensitive Research Network), a collective of PGRs from the Midlands who are researching complex and emotionally demanding topics across the social sciences. We aim to meet regularly to discuss the intersecting methodological and ethical issues we face, support each other, share information and knowledge, and create a welcoming space in a peer-led informal setting. Although we are not a support network, we aim to support each other through peer-learning and sharing of information and experiences.

What is emotionally demanding research (EDR)?

“Research that demands a tremendous amount of mental, emotional, or physical energy and potentially affects or depletes the researcher’s well-being ... [it] is not limited to research on sensitive issues ... research can also be emotionally demanding when it concerns topics similar to the personal/traumatic experiences of the researcher...”

(Kumar and Cavallaro, 2018; Burrell et al., 2023)

Co-leads

Adam Chen

Madeleine Ingham

Jess Crosbie

Email the co-leads

SRN Midlands serves as a platform to

1. Build and sustain an interdisciplinary community

Maintain ongoing recruitment to ensure active, diverse, and sustained membership.

Convene regular meetings to foster connection, dialogue, and shared direction.

2. Generate and share knowledge

Collect, synthesise, and curate evidence and resources on emotionally demanding research.

Disseminate knowledge in accessible formats for academic, professional, and public audiences.

3. Provide expertise

Serve as a recognised expert network for individuals and organisations seeking guidance and insight.

4. Promote engagement and visibility

Support knowledge exchange through conferences, seminars, workshops, publications, and digital platforms.

Raise awareness of the emotionally demanding nature of research and of researcher wellbeing across academic and professional communities.

5. Enable collaboration and impact

Facilitate collaboration across research, policy, and practice to advance understanding and support in this area.

Support and develop collaborative grant applications to strengthen interdisciplinary skills in EDR.

Resources

Developed by PGRs for PGRs

This library provides a curated collection of guidelines, toolkits, videos, podcasts, and academic literature to support researchers across the social sciences working in emotionally demanding research. It brings together practical, evidence-based resources to foster ethical practice, critical reflection, and sustainable ways of engaging with challenging subject matter, participants, and research environments.

Members will have priority access to SRN Midlands workshops. Any workshop hosted or organised by SRN Midlands will prioritise members first before the general public. Further exclusive workshops may be made available to SRN Midlands members depending on members' priorities and interests.

Members also have access to the SRN Midlands blog. This is a space for any member to reflect on the personal and professional sides of academic life. We welcome reflections on fieldwork, commentaries or simply updates to any work that is being conducted by our members.

Alongside more informal methods of communication, we also have a Jisc Mailing list. All members have access to the list to share opportunities, events and news with other members. It is one of many ways we try and keep members connected within and beyond the EDR community.

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