Heard enough from 'David', 'John' and 'Michael'? How to make disaster studies more inclusive!

Authors: Eelaferi, Collective of early career researchers; Eefje Hendriks, Laura Kmoch, Femke Mulder and Ricardo Fuentealba

Academia in general – and academic publishing in particular – faces many issues regarding diversity and inclusion (see for example a recent report from Emerald).

The figure below shows a wordcloud of names of the authors that repeatedly got published in top-5 economics journals between 2005 and 2020. Are you called David, Michael, John or Robert and work as an academic? Neither are we. This white male representation shows that academic publishing is still far from inclusive, and this is something we urgently need to change.

Figure 1. The wordcloud of names of the authors of the published articles in top-5 economics journals between 2005 and 2020 (David Ubilava).

We are not the first to call for inclusivity in our research field – disaster studies (see for example the Disaster Manifesto). However, we recently tackled this challenge with new means and a fantastic group of ECR researchers: We dedicated two special issues to the goal of rethinking and redesigning ways in which we do research more inclusively, by giving a platform to emerging and underrepresented voices in disaster studies. The idea was to learn and discover new research approaches with a new generation of disaster scientists! Both issues have been published in Disaster Prevention and Management and can be found here and here.

We aimed to be as inclusive as possible in this project. The issues gave a stage to a highly innovative, skilled and diverse group of early career researchers and practitioners, especially from disaster prone areas in low-income countries. A large group of renowned disaster scientists offered #mentorship to the authors prior to the double blind peer review process, helping them to share their ideas with an academic audience and let their stories shine. Authors were also matched to give peer support, as well as commenting "inside" each other's published version. We also collaborated with the popular podcast Disasters Deconstructed, to create an additional stage for the authors' personal stories.

Nevertheless, individually and in our collective work as researchers, we still have a long way to go! Disaster studies and academic publication practices remain far from inclusive. So, in order to spark change, this blogpost explores three key challenges and solutions that need our attention, based on our recent joint work.

Challenges

1. Local researchers remain unseen because they are poorly connected

Important voices often remain unheard in academic research. The field of disaster studies, for instance, underrepresents voices from areas where disasters happen. Disaster scholars from Europe and North America still too often assume the role of speaking for (or rather instead of) everyone - and this is worrying. This has a negative impact on the quality of science and limits finding appropriate solutions for pressing issues in reality. Voices of local or 'insider' researchers from diverse settings throughout the world not only need to be heard but prioritised over the views of outsiders. Ensuring the presence of marginalised voices in academic spaces alone does not necessarily guarantee that they gain the respect and power needed to inform change.

2. Unequal access to publishing and funding opportunities

Funding structures, formal barriers and privileges for the few still dominate many academic circles, including the field of disaster research. It remains challenging for researchers from disaster-affected communities to gain independent funding to collect data, share findings, promote and publish their ideas, and to be recognised by the scientific community. Creating a stage for their insights can enable a wider and profound real-world impact. Too often we forget the duty of academic research to contribute to a better world. How can we enable insider researchers to publish their work?

3. Valued publishing languages and outlets sideline local researchers

Academic publishing continues to be dominated by English-language books and journals. Therefore, established academic communities miss out on valuable insights from researchers and practitioners, who work with or come from affected communities and write in other languages, for different outlets and broader audiences.

Proposed solutions

1. Build meaningful research relationships

Local or 'insider' researchers are often poorly connected to global centres of academic funding and power. More effort is needed to create opportunities for researchers from disaster affected areas - at home and abroad - and to forge ties between academic institutions, to collaborate and exchange ideas, methods and findings. Whilst individual academics cannot overthrow existing power structures, we can all make an effort to proactively reach out to each other. We especially encourage established researchers at influential institutions to ensure that conferences, workshops and meetings are accessible to local and 'insider' researchers (e.g., by facilitating remote participation and translation). We encourage all academics to support network building around inclusive spaces, events, and media (e.g., podcasts, movies, social media). Importantly, please respect the contribution of 'insiders', local and early career colleagues in your shared publications. We recommend the use of group pseudonyms for collective endeavours because this goes some way towards addressing the systemic problems around academic publishing (e.g., first author advantages).

2. Mentoring as a gateway for inclusive academic learning

Mentoring is a way to innovate disaster studies - and science in general - and to amplify voices that currently remain unheard. Through mentoring we can build more inclusive networks. For example, cross-country networks between practitioners and researchers can help us to support and challenge each other's views. As special-issue editors, we found that the seniority of mentors does not necessarily matter. We can all be mentors and open doors for others. Help to let stories of others shine!

Actively reaching out to "outsiders" was a very positive and rewarding experience for us, and it brings disaster research forward. Let's take more time for mentorship! We call on researchers in the global North and South to create opportunities for local researchers to gain access to mentors. We call on universities to evaluate their academic staff based on their merit as mentors and with an eye to career opportunities that they create for others.

Figure 2. Stimulating local conversations about hazard-resistance (Eefje Hendriks)

 

3. Taking time to prioritise real world impact

Time is key to changing our academic systems. We all need time to take a step back, and to rethink the inclusivity of entire academic processes. Let's remember that we are trying to give others (e.g. often unheard voices in research and practice) access to a system with many flaws.

Academics are often driven to produce papers in large quantities and fast, yet not necessarily to achieve "real world" impacts (or merely as an afterthought). Many feel trapped in the way academic status depends on quantitative output. Therefore, we urgently need to rethink academia and resist its machinery. Academia can be a space that leads the way towards meaningful changes in society. The focus needs to shift from quantity to quality and from outputs to the research journey.

In addition to 'best paper awards', academia could start issuing 'best process' awards. Academics should be evaluated not just on how innovative their ideas are, but also on how much their work contributes to the 'social good'. Addressing systemic issues towards inclusivity takes time! We call to slow down research – enough to pause, reflect and re-evaluate our tracks from time to time - and to work on research "for" or even better 'in' and 'with' society.

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