Research, Mental Health and Traumatising Contexts: How to Take Care?

Roundtable Osteuropa

With Christa Cocciole, Hanna Vakhitova and Kerstin Bischl

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