This guide has been developed by the Authoritarian and Challenging Environments Research Group (ACERG), a sub-group of the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA) which started in 2023. ACERG was set up to support and promote political research on and in environments where data collection is difficult, with a special focus on in-country fieldwork in authoritarian or conflict-affected places.
Fieldwork will always be an unparalleled method of gathering data for political research, particularly for qualitative and inductive studies. However, the very nature of authoritarian and conflict-affected areas makes the gathering of political information a complicated, sensitive, and often risky endeavour. This is most clearly evidenced by the number of cases where academics have been arrested or imprisoned in recent years. Academic institutions have not always known how to respond to these challenges, and as a result researchers (particularly PhD students conducting fieldwork for the first time) have not known where to look for advice.
This guide is the product of a two-day ACERG workshop in May 2024 that aimed to fill this knowledge gap. Over two-dozen academics with experience of fieldwork in challenging environments were asked to list the main lessons that they had learned in their fieldwork experiences, and to categorise these as they relate to various audiences and activities.
The purpose of this guide is to assist researchers (both new and established), supervisors, and universities in understanding and preparing for the challenges associated with fieldwork. It includes sections on security, pre- and post-fieldwork logistics, advice for supervisors, and information for institutions.
For more information on the guide, please reach out to the Authoritarian and Challenging Environments Research Group.
