Abstract

This is a panel discussion on ethics for practitioners in research, and the title of our forthcoming book. Presenters are from different disciplines, and we will be talking about the types of ethics-in-common that practitioners often deal with in their practices, both in their formal research projects and in their field. Some topics will include obtaining ethics approval; describing our practices to non-practitioners, the ethical dilemmas faced in research and how presenters overcame these challenges. We will also touch on how book project came about and its unique dialogic structure: 9 chapters each with 2 respondents; offering interdisciplinary perspectives.

Session and activities

Nicole Brown, host of the Practice As Research network (https://practiceasresearch.nicole-brown.co.uk/), and myself will briefly discuss, as co-editors, how the book came about; its key themes and some of our insights drawn from the introduction and conclusion. Then we have 3 chapter authors Dr Hande Cayir from community-based collaborative film-making in mental health; Dr Nicola Power, Head of Art Therapy in an NHS and community setting talking about applied theatre with people with learning disabilities and a self-advocacy community theatre company, and Jo Collins talking about her Coaching practice and the ethics of dual roles. We can then hear the voices of 7 chapter respondents, who can talk about their insights into their respective chapters and their own disciplinary perspectives. What is most interesting and exciting will be the live meeting of the contributors for the first time. Also, the way we can enact the dialogic structure of the book itself, and reflect on our shared interests in relational and embodied ethics, and the ethics of practices themselves across the arts including music, performing and participatory arts, film-making, coaching, education, social work, sports and creative computing. As a host I will be collecting written questions throughout the session, from the room, to increase the dialogic nature of the discussion. I will be steering the discussion towards some of the key research experiences and approaches in ethics-in-practice for the practitioners; alongside, what we learn from interdisciplinary perspectives about our own ethics; as well as ending with a potential series of recommendations for change in UK HE research and funding ethics approval, and how regulatory practices can be more sympathetic to practitioners as experts in their fields and holders of specific forms of knowledge that are often not treated equitably.