{"id":679762,"date":"2024-06-25T19:59:57","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T02:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&p=679762"},"modified":"2024-06-25T12:18:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T19:18:31","slug":"research-needs-a-realignment-of-care","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/research-needs-a-realignment-of-care","title":{"rendered":"Research Needs a Realignment of Care"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[171,461441,430081],"tags":[277222,467761,28932,276802,1191],"arcnews_issues":[489472],"class_list":["post-679762","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-equity-social-justice","category-from-the-meridian","tag-academic","tag-equity-and-inclusion","tag-gis-education","tag-higher-education","tag-research","arcnews_issues-summer-2024","arcnews_sections-gis-people"],"acf":{"short_description":"In GIS and other areas, academic systems should support all people as they are and not simply reward research and ideas.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 2324401<\/a> and Award No. 2324402<\/a>. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Centers of learning and research are dynamic, inventive, and complex places. They are also too often places of exclusion, isolation, and stress. This is caused by hyperindividualism; competition; pressure to \u201cpublish or perish;\u201d and institutionalized power dynamics that create disproportionate barriers for people who identify as women, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or other people of color), LGBT2QIA+, and disabled\u2014and many whose identities cross these and other categories, compounding the impacts. This is true at the campus level and across the research landscape, especially at underresourced minority-serving and emerging research institutions.\r\n\r\nThose of us who are academic researchers, students, or faculty know that a life of teaching, mentoring, and research can be intrinsically rewarding and highly impactful. Alone and together, we navigate the systems that create barriers to our ability to thrive."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":679782,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"So how can we ensure that these systems not only reward research and ideas but also support and regard all people as they are? How can we be part of a research enterprise that not only brings together people who represent many backgrounds but also fosters and sustains equity among us, recognizing all perspectives and supporting people\u2019s full lives?"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Addressing the Long-Standing Inequities of Research<\/h2>\r\nThree years ago, as a professor of geography at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS), I was collaborating on research projects, teaching classes, and chairing my department. The world was in the thick of a pandemic and undergoing massive social change, and I was simultaneously managing pressing family needs and several stunning personal losses.\r\n\r\nThe dissonance grew between the demands that I and others were facing at work and the profound personal and societal experiences we were having. This is when I knew that something was not right about what was happening in academia.\r\n\r\nI felt compelled to sit down and write out what became a sort of manifesto for a care ethos in research. The Ethos of Care hinges on feminist ideas\u2014especially those from Black feminists\u2014as well as antiracist, queer, and anti-ableist work, to imagine more ethical ways of being in the academy.\r\n\r\nI shared my thoughts with inspirational colleagues and then coauthored an article<\/a> with them on this idea for Inside Higher Ed<\/em>. We devised a 10-point pledge to support care, authenticity, and collectivism in research. It has resonated widely and led to the creation of a gathering called Convening of Care<\/a>, planned for September 2024. About 30 researchers and academics will come together to examine the pledge and begin to find ways to enact it as individuals and at the systemic level.\r\n\r\nFunded by the National Science Foundation and jointly sponsored by the American Association of Geographers (AAG), the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP), and UCCS, the convening will call on participants to pause and think about other ways of being and doing in their work. Participants will also examine what care looks like when engaging in knowledge production, as well as how to build more supportive academic and research environments. This may include formulating less-hierarchical approaches to mentoring, making laboratory culture more inclusive, and encouraging a move away from grind culture\u2014as described in Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto<\/em> by Tricia Hersey\u2014to contest deeply ingrained systems of power.\r\n\r\nParticipants will also focus on systemic reform efforts, such as how to change policies and structures in ways that transform research landscapes. The goal is to identify and catalyze scalable practices in many institutional and organizational contexts."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Change at Multiple Levels<\/h2>\r\nThe kind of change that my colleagues and I envision is individual, institutional, and systematic because change is intertwined at all these scales. Reorienting academia toward justice and compassion requires recognizing that academic systems are made up of systems and structures as well as hearts and minds.\r\n\r\nThe Ethos of Care pledge is an opportunity for individuals and institutions to think about new norms and strategies for how they do their work. This pledge is a living document\u2014a starting point from which to consider ways to collaborate and something to check back in on over time. It can also serve as a prompt for navigating difficult conversations around the inherent imbalances of power at institutions\u2014conversations that get approached with care, acknowledging the vulnerability of various collaborators and the potential consequences for everyone involved."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"

The Ethos of Care Pledge<\/h2>\r\nIn our work together, we promise to\r\n