Researcher Safety, Ethics, and Mental Health

Our resource guide provides early-career researchers and graduate students with practical and tailored best practices to ensure that research on extremism and disinformation is conducted safely, ethically, and with minimal risk to mental health and wellbeing.

Researching terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC), alongside disinformation, involves unique risks that are rarely covered by the research safety, ethics, and well-being programmes offered to early-career researchers and graduate students. Young researchers, those new to the field, and minorities are often at highest risk when studying and publishing on these issues. In our experience, minimal to no training was available within university settings, which made this process difficult, risky, and exhausting. Indeed, as a seminal report by the REASSURE (Researcher, Security, Safety, and Resilience) project found, nearly half of its 39 ‘interviewees had no awareness of the potential risks of researching in this sub-field before beginning their research’. With that said, research into the process of researching extremism is increasingly receiving attention amongst scholars and others working in this space, exemplified not least by the REASSURE project. Whether it is ethical questions involved in studying extremism, the dangers of vicarious trauma, or practical tips about operational and information security, a flurry of reports, peer-reviewed articles, podcast episodes, workshops, and conference panels have emerged of late dealing with such matters, amongst others.

One of the goals of OxDEL is to therefore help correct the aforementioned gap and provide detailed and tailored advice on how to safely conduct research into extremism and disinformation. To start this process, we have developed a succinct guide focussing on researcher safety, ethics, and mental health, each section drawing on previous conference presentations, existing scholarship on researcher mental health, and our own personal experiences. Researching violent extremism and terrorism can be a daunting, isolating process. Researchers are encouraged to navigate this field with best practices and a supportive community. If you are grappling with similar issues in your research, please do not hesitate to email us with specific inquiries or examples at mail@oxdisinformationextremismlab.com and we will endeavour to suggest practical and safe methods. Reach out to your university or employer research ethics office in the first and last instance to ensure that all approaches used comply with institutional standards.

Crucially, this resource guide is neither legal nor medical advice. All users should seek professional advice from their universities, employers, or institutions to ensure that all relevant standards and obligations are met in full. In this guide we cannot cover everything that has been published on researcher safety, ethics, and mental health — but we will focus on practical, accessible, and actionable ideas which you can use to start thinking about best practices for undertaking research in this area. Importantly, this guide is targeted at researchers engaged with studying online patterns of extremism and disinformation. While there are valuable guides and research into comparable aspects about researcher safety and ethics involved in physical fieldwork in this area, such topics are largely beyond the scope of the present guide. Additionally, the resource guide is aimed at early-career researchers and graduate students; however, it may be used by anyone in the field. It is also intended for researchers based in the UK, albeit some sections may be applicable to those in other countries. All suggestions are tailored specifically for those studying extremism and disinformation, unlike general guides which cover adjacent disciplines, such as criminology and sociology. Our resource guide includes links to several helpful articles and online tutorials, as well as reports that have begun to measure the effects of this labour on researchers and practitioners. The guide covers the following subsections:

I. Researcher Safety (Personal Privacy, Doxing, and Legal Risks)

II. Researcher Ethics (Data Storage and Protections, GDPR, and Marginalized Communities)

III. Mental Health and Wellbeing (Mitigating Measures, Vicarious Trauma, Counselling, and Research Hygiene)

IV. Additional Issues and Readings (Institutional Change)

I. Researcher Safety

Researchers studying terrorism and violent extremism, alongside disinformation, may confront significant risks and dangers. It is important to learn about these and how to mitigate them well before starting a new project. These risks range from operational security and doxing, to website takedowns, lost data, and even hacking attempts. Planning ahead and mitigating the risk of such dangers is crucial when conducting research. Be aware of your online presence, use secure communication channels, and prioritize self-care above all else. Be cautious and do not engage with extremist individuals or groups online. Lastly, always consider the explanatory value and utility of examining violent extremism content. It may be as productive to examine proxies or quantitative measurements (e.g., frequency of posting or changes in posting behaviour that are correlated to political events or developments on the ground).

Before any new research project, ask yourself and your colleagues about the utility and importance of examining violent extremism content in significant quantities. There is, unfortunately, some instance where this may be considered productive but often times it produces limited explanatory value. Consider if quantitative measure (e.g., frequency with which an extremist group posts or conducts attacks) is a more useful and safe measure of the phenomenon being investigated.

Be aware of the risks when your home address or other personal information is shared publicly, and monitor your online presence and digital footprint. To ensure that your home address or other personally identifying information is safe and secure (especially on corporate registries and other platforms which are publicly accessible) consider using a data removal service and familiarise yourself with the protections afforded under GDPR.

Check to see if your university or department offers free access to a VPN service and secure cloud storage account. If not, consider asking your committee or department if they can cover the costs of these tools from a research support fund. These are essential tools for researcher safety and should not be viewed as a bonus, but rather as the baseline standard.

Use pseudonymized and anonymized accounts when necessary, provided that you have ethical clearance. Consider using a pseudonym or anonymous account for all online research, especially if this involves interviewing or collecting data on extremist individuals or groups.

Utilise encrypted communications when necessary, such as Signal and Proton Mail, and ensure that encryption and privacy settings are enabled for other platforms (e.g., prominent platforms such as Telegram do not include all privacy and encryption protections by default; as such, review your application settings frequently).

Be cautious when engaging with extremist individuals or groups online. Avoid confrontations, arguments, or discussions and refrain from sharing personal information or opinions that could put you at risk. We are here to observe and analyse rather than launch ad hoc interventions.

Remember that the effects of vicarious trauma or secondary traumatic stress (STS) are cumulative. Many early-career researchers who enter the field may feel okay at first. However, several months or years of conducting this work can have significant impacts. As Audrey Gagnon and Nicola Mathieson summarise:

It is important for researchers to understand the risks and symptoms of STS when they are investigating extremist content online. By being properly informed about the risks of researching online extremism, researchers, supervisors, and institutions can better prepare and support researcher wellbeing with the aim of mitigating risks rather than responding to harm.

Accordingly, always set boundaries and prioritise self-care. Establish clear boundaries with research participants or material and prioritise self-care to avoid burnout and emotional distress.

Researchers must always check to ensure that they are complying with all laws governing research in their jurisdiction. Given that researchers may be based in different countries, we cannot give specific advice on this, but it is essential to check BEFORE beginning this research.

Always use a VPN and separate private browser account to mask your location and keep it safe. If possible, use only one device which is separate from your personal device during data collection (this may be a computer at the office or a university). Additionally, if you are a student conducting research off campus or beyond eduroam, it may be beneficial to utilise your university’s VPN to mitigate against the possibility of your web traffic being misconstrued or flagged by authorities.

Some universities have developed voluntary or mandatory declarations for researchers to sign before undertaking a project that delves into security-sensitive material. The purpose behind such forms is to create a declaratory statement about the intent of research in case of potential misinterpretation at a later point by law enforcement authorities. Check if such a statement exists at your university. If it does not, ensure that you retain a ‘paper trail’ clearly demonstrating that the research is for academic purposes.

Be aware of the dangers of doxing, particularly if you are an early-career researcher or individual who may be at greater risk of unwarranted targeting, including women, persons of colour, or members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Doxing can involve serious consequences, such as online harassment, deepfakes, hacking, identity theft, and even physical harm. Be cautious when sharing personal information online and take steps to protect your privacy. As alluded to above, both men and women face doxing and online abuse but statistically women and minority groups face these issue more frequently. It is important to take gender into account and develop unique and specific interventions that work for an individual's needs.

Always keep personal information private. Avoid sharing personal information, such as your address, phone number, or email address, online or with research participants. Even if you have a social media page or personal website, this still applies.

If your account on a platform is temporarily removed, reach out to colleagues in the trusty & safety community to ask for tailored guidance on navigating the terms of service. While no white list currently exists for researchers, you may be able to get individualised advice and guidance. In any case, always back-up your work to a secure storage provider so that takedowns do not destroy months of research.

While research projects will often necessitate one to track ongoing patterns in online content, the Repository of Extremist Aligned Documents (READ) – developed by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation – offers a valuable resource for those who may be engaging in qualitative or historical research into extremist ideologies. As the material is curated and any access thereto controlled, READ is a safer method to locate such content.

Warning: Be cautious when traveling with your personal computer or device if it contains content that may be banned in other countries. Researchers and academics frequently travel to present research and attend conferences in other countries, but laws regarding academic freedom and freedom of expression may differ in these jurisdictions. Review local laws and regulations well in advance to ensure you are not stopped at the airport or hotel before an important conference.