International Fieldwork in Developing Countries
Postgraduate Training Suite 5th Floor, Daysh Building, Newcastle University
Day One: Thursday 4th December 2014
9:00 Registration
9.15 Introduction
Session 1: Where and What is the Field? (9.30 – 10.45)
This session starts the workshop off by focusing attention on thinking through why fieldwork is necessary, what
constitutes the field as well as how and when planning to enter the field needs to take place. It provides a check
list of practicalities to consider prior to starting fieldwork (including bureaucratic requirements; visas; vaccinations;
risk assessments; cultural considerations; and safety for lone researchers) and encourages participants to
consider the makeup of their own ‘field’
Speakers:
Starting to think about fieldwork Suzanne Speak, School of Architecture and Planning, Newcastle University
Practicalities of fieldwork Nina Laurie School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University
Activity – where and what is your field?
Coffee 10.45-11.15
Session 2: Access and Ethics 11.15 - 1.00
This session will cover procedures for ethical approval; issues of: gaining entry and access (to information,
research sites, resources, subjects); gaining access to communities; collecting sensitive, personal information;
dealing with gender issues; confidentiality; peer pressure on research subjects; avoiding bias; social relationships
of field research; research fatigue; expectations that the research will produce economic outcomes.
Speakers:
Procedures for Ethical approval and risk assessments Nina Laurie School of Geography, Politics and Sociology,
Newcastle University)
Contested terms? Putting ethics into practice, the case of researching ‘Slave Labour’ Siobhan McGrath,
Geography Department, Durham University
Activity: Postcard from the field
Lunch 1.00 - 1.45
Session 3: Methodology Planning into Practice Current PG Case Studies 1.45 – 2.45
This session will cover issues of: methodological approaches; researcher positionality; politics of fieldwork;
research in challenging and changing situations reflexivity.
 Arezu Bari (School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University) Mixed methods
fieldwork (at home) in Pakistan
 Mixed methods fieldwork (at home) in Pakistan
 (Re)Planning the project when you don't know what you don't know!
 Ethics and Privacy (Adapting to local contexts)
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Andrea Wilkinson (School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University) ‘Postcard from
Peru update’ – video diary San Ignacio, Peru.
‘Husband in the field’: video diary from Peru. Ben van Wagtendonk, San Ignacio, Peru.
Activity – interactive update
Coffee 2.45 - 3.00
Session 4: Supervisors tips sessions and Q and A (Chair Nina Laurie) 3.00 - 3.45
(PLEASE NOTE FINISH TIME DAY ONE)
This will involve a supervisor panel Q&A session including brief presentations of top tips from supervisors who
have successfully supervised students doing international fieldwork on development topics.
Panel members include:
 Peter Kellett (School of Architecture and Planning, Newcastle University)
 Marcus Power (Department of Geography, Durham University)
Day Two: Friday 5th December 2014
Activity: How does home configure your field?
Coffee 10.30-11.00
Session 1: Collaboration and Talking and Writing About Fieldwork Afterwards 9:00–10:30
This session explores the challenges of fieldwork with collaborator organisations in different contexts. It also
examines questions of responsibility when writing, analysing and presenting work of this nature.
Speakers:
Partners and collaborators – experiences from fieldwork in Peru (Katy Jenkins, Department of Social Sciences,
Northumbria University)
Working with VSO and Diasporas in Nepal and Nigeria Nisha Susan School of Social Sciences, Northumbria
University and School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University
Session 2: Doing International Development Fieldwork ‘at Home’ 11.00 – 12.30
Much research on development topics requires researchers to do work ‘at home’. For many international scholars
‘the field’ may well be the country they grew up in and one to which they ‘return’ to do fieldwork. For others doing
research on development may well involve no overseas fieldwork at all. For others fieldwork might mean taking
family with them or visiting family as a field site. To what extent do these diverse relationships with the field as
‘home’ produce different sorts of knowledges? What are the challenges involved for researchers and what
different options are available when boundaries become blurred?
Speakers:
What counts as development research? Development fieldwork in the UK: Nina Laurie (School of Geography,
Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University)
Cultural Calibration (Even if you think you are "home"): Arezu Bari, (School of Geography, Politics and Sociology,
Newcastle University)
Lunch 12.30 -1.30
(During the lunchtime slot there will be an optional informal women only session to discuss the issues
that women in fieldwork)
Session 3: Research ‘translation’ and impact 1.30 – 3.45
Translation is a the heart of all forms of research in international development settings, whether that is translating
development languages and cultures, translating academic terms and understandings in field contexts, translation
from ‘here’ to ‘home’ or working in another language with the help of research assistants and/or translators or
translating research experience into policy settings in order to ‘make a difference’ and ‘have an impact.
Speakers:
Policy placements and the challenges of translating research experience. Robin Finlay and Jenny Lloyd School
of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University
Gaining and sharing experience through volunteering in the UK – Lessons from the NE region. Lucy Philipson,
CEO, NGO COCO, Newcastle
Learning a language – lessons from the UK and Ecuador, Stefan Rzedzian, School of Geography, Politics and
Sociology, Newcastle University
Collaborative fieldwork on post trafficking livelihoods in Nepal Nina Laurie School of Geography, Politics and
Sociology, Newcastle University
Activity – The Impact Agenda - Can your work be an Impact Case Study?
Coffee 3.45-4.15
Session 4: Leaving the field (Nina Laurie) 4.15 – 5.00
Most of the things written about fieldwork and most of the research training you will receive focuses on
preparation for fieldwork, methodologies, ethics and methods of data collection and analysis. Very little time is
given to the process of ‘leaving the field’ and yet this is a huge event, and planning for it is crucial to the success
and enjoyment of your research project.