Improve your leadership and communication skills! This training series will feature timely, challenging topics led by subject matter experts, presented online in workshop format with opportunities to discuss scenarios, practice skills, and plan for your specific field projects and settings.
Intended audience: Principal investigators, grad student researchers, field course instructors, field staff, field station managers, departmental field coordinators, and others that lead or coordinate field research teams or field courses.
Details: The training series is free and will be hosted by the UC Field Research Safety Center of Excellence online Wednesdays in March. Space is limited. Participants are expected to attend all four workshops and will earn a leadership training certificate. Any questions may be directed to the planning team: Claudia Alli (UCLA), Sara Souza (UC Berkeley), and Jason Herum (UC Davis). Related information and supplemental materials will be posted at 2021 Fieldwork Toolkit Leadership Training Series. Please consider participating or sharing this invitation with trip leaders in your department.
 

Wednesday March 3, 9 am - Noon PST
Trip Planning: Risk Management in Field Settings
Poor communication is often an overlooked contributor to incidents in field settings. For this reason, it's critical for field leaders to establish clear expectations for a safe learning environment, good rapport between leaders and participants, tools for managing conflict, and open lines of communication. When done successfully, safe learning/working environments not only reduce the likelihood of accidents, but also lead to more positive group experiences. Join us to review and practice these important leadership skills through facilitated activities, discussion, and role-playing scenarios. Note: 3 hours allotted for this first session to kick-off the training series and for small group breakout work.

Wednesday March 10, 10 am - Noon PST
Creating, Enforcing, and Promoting Safe Fieldwork Culture: Strategies Aimed at Protecting Diverse Researchers
As a result of identity prejudice, certain individuals are more vulnerable to conflict and violence when they are in the field. It is paramount that all fieldworkers be informed of the risks some colleagues may face, so that they can define best practice together. Amelia-Juliette Demery and Monique Pipkin will present their Nature Ecology and Evolution paper titled, “Safe fieldwork strategies for at-risk individuals, their supervisors and their institutions” and lead a workshop with case studies to put these strategies into practice.

Wednesday March 17, 10 am - Noon PST
Mental Health in the Field: Best Practices and Pitfalls 
The goal of this workshop is to increase your awareness of the impact of offsite activities on mental health. In the first part of the workshop, we will give a presentation on common problems associated with mental health in the field, looking at small to large group teaching and research expeditions. Some case examples will be given, with an explanation of how the field situation may impact mental health, why, and possible mitigation strategies. The second part of the workshop will be based on the participants working in small groups. Several scenarios will be presented, and groups will be encouraged to discuss, assess and come up with possible solutions. In the end, the case studies and solutions will be reviewed, with the possibility for participants to share their own concerns and experience. Pre-requisite reading: Nature Geoscience article, Mental Health in the Field.

Wednesday March 24, 1 pm - 3 pm PST
Building a Better Fieldwork Future: Preventing Sexual Harassment & Assault in the Field Sciences
This workshop presents unique risks posed by fieldwork and offers a suite of evidence-based tools for field researchers, instructors, and students to prevent, intervene in, and respond to sexual harassment and assault. Through a series of practical intervention scenarios, this workshop guides participants on how to be an active and engaged bystander, how to report incidents, and how to plan field settings to minimize risk. Armed with these tools, participants can play a role in ensuring that field settings are safer, more equitable, and more welcoming for the next generation of field scientists. Note: The workshop will include a facilitated discussion of the film Picture a Scientist. An access link will be provided for participants to screen the film independently in advance of the training date on March 24.