With Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, researchers and institutions became more aware of the fact that research on traumatising incidents also affects the researcher: Reading about war and violence, or interviewing victims and witnesses may impair the researchers’ own mental health. Especially, since researchers may have experienced war or other traumatizing situations in their own past, or may work in precarious situations. In this podcast, we ask what effects research on traumatising contexts may have on researchers, and what individuals, but also academia as an institution can do in order to mitigate the effect. Christa Cocciole, a systems therapist whose work is trauma informed with a focus on the body, and Hanna Vakhitova, assistant professor and senior economist at Kyiv School of Economics talk to Kerstin Bischl (KonKoop/ZOiS) about mental health in academia, and personal as well as institutional ways to take care. (Music: “Complete” by Modul is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0-License.)
With Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, researchers and institutions became more aware of the fact that research on traumatising incidents also affects the researcher: In this podcast, we talk about mental health in academia and personal as well as institutional ways to take care.
Speakers:
Christa Cocciole, B.A. in Psychology and Dance, and Systems Therapist (DGSF). She is currently working with NGOs and individuals to support regenerative transformation processes.
Hanna Vakhitova, assistant professor and senior economist at Kyiv School of Economics (Ukraine) and visiting fellow at Syddansk Universitet (Denmark) and an affiliate fellow of ZOiS.
Kerstin Bischl, Academic Coordinator of KonKoop (https://konkoop.de/index.php/project-description/ )– funded by the BMBF
Further reading:
Psychometric properties of the Secondary Traumatic Stress–Informed Organizational Assessment: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Ftrm0000108
During the conversation, Christa Cocciole cites Marie-Celine Schulte: "The researchers need space and grace to navigate ((gender-based violence)) research within their own capacities and as they know best in these high-risk contexts. We need to keep supporting them in protecting and managing their emotional and physical safety and wellbeing at every stage of the study.”
Sprang, G., Ross, L., Miller, B. C., Blackshear, K., & Ascienzo, S. (2017). Psychometric properties of the Secondary Traumatic Stress–Informed Organizational Assessment. Traumatology, 23(2), 165–171. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000108
The conversation follows up on an internal workshop organised by the Ukrainian Research Network @ZOiS (UNET). Find out more about UNET: https://www.zois-berlin.de/en/research/externally-funded-projects/unet The Ukraine Research Network@ZOiS is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The research network “Cooperation and Conflict in Eastern Europe: The Consequences of the Reconfiguration of Political, Economic, and Social Spaces since the End of the Cold War” (KonKoop) is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Music: “Complete” by Modul is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0-License