Initial Publication Date: May 1, 2025
Unit 6: Inclusivity and Safety in the Field
Goals
- Learn the various facets of inclusivity and safety in the field
- Teams will identify their top priorities for improving field inclusivity and safety within their own context (realizing we can't do everything all at once, develop the best next steps for your department)
- Teams will develop action plans for inclusivity and safety in the field based on their priorities - what can we do?
Preparation
WATCH
Watch the Webinar: Field safety - What problems can occur, and how do we mitigate issues?
Resources mentioned in this webinar:
- The Challenges of Fieldwork for LGBTQ+ Geoscientists
- 10 Steps to Protect BIPOC Scholars in the Field
- ADVANCEGeo Codes of Conduct
- ADVANCEGeo Workshops
- GSA Field Safety Code of Conduct
- ADVANCEing FieldSafety Toolkit
ACTION
- Teams should identify 1-3 situations involving fieldwork in their department that they would like to target for improvement (choose either one large task or several smaller ones). Devise an action plan for each.
Examples of possible actions and resources:- Creating a department action plan for improving field safety and inclusion
- Creating a safety checklist for each field trip
- Safety and Belonging in the Field: A Checklist for Educators
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Geoscience: Field Safety Best Practice Guidelines
- Playing It Safe: Recognizing and Managing Risk When Working With Students in the Field
Barbara and David Tewksbury, Hamilton College - NAGT Safety in the Field Project - Western Washing University: Field Course Safety
- Creating a gear closet or finding ways to make field experiences more affordable
- Creating a field safety manual
- Creating a code of conduct for class field trips or field research activities
- Plan to discuss and implement a department-wide strategy on toilet stops in the field
- Toilet Stops in the Field: An educational primer and recommended best practices for field-based teaching (Acrobat (PDF) 355kB Mar28 25)
University of Binghamton (original drive link)
- Toilet Stops in the Field: An educational primer and recommended best practices for field-based teaching (Acrobat (PDF) 355kB Mar28 25)
- Redesigning a course field trip with focus on physical accessibility
- Atchison & Gilley (2015). Geology for everyone: Making the field accessible, EARTH.
- Feig, Atchison, & Gilley (). Making geoscience fieldwork inclusive and accessible for students with disabilities. Geosphere, 15 (6): 1809โ1825.
- Redesigning a course fieldtrip with focus on emotional/mental accessibility
- Feig, Atchison, & Gilley (2019). Making geoscience fieldwork inclusive and accessible for students with disabilities. Geosphere, 15 (6): 1809โ1825.
- Supporting mental health in the field - Geological Society of London Blog
- Imperial geologist tackles field trip mental health - Imperial College London
- Mitigating unsafe spaces for geoscientists from various groups:
- Teams prepare one slide with their idea(s), action plan(s), and potential concerns about how to move forward.
- Submit the slide (deadline - Wednesday, April 16) and be ready to share about it at meeting
Optional
- ADVANCEGeo: In the Field
- Playing It Safe: Recognizing and Managing Risk When Working With Students in the Field
Barbara and David Tewksbury, Hamilton College - NAGT Safety in the Field Project - Mogk, D. W., (1997), Field Notes, In: Brady, Perkins and Mogk (eds.), Teaching Mineralogy, Mineralogical Society of America
Synchronous Meeting
Agenda:
12:00 PM Welcome & Roadcheck summary
12:05 PM Each team have one member present their slide
4 minutes per team - 2 minute explanation of slide, 2 minutes questions
12:40 PM Large group discussion Guided discussion
- Can we find ways to share the workload?
- Is someone trying to create something you already have? For examples: Do you already have a template for physical safety that all department fieldtrips use? Do you already have a code of conduct for a field course? Do you have a checklist for researchers going to work in the field?
- Are any teams trying to create the same new thing? Can they save effort if they joined forces?
- Share ideas on how to mitigate and break through barriers that colleagues identified as potential blocks to their action plans.
12:55 PM Announcements; Roadcheck