What happens when researchers speak of «vulnerable» participants, and institutional guidelines list specific measures to «protect them»? Though well-intended, this approach relies on undisputed normative assumptions and overlooks vulnerability as a fundamental condition of being human.
In this event, we want to reframe dominant presuppositions on the topic as open-ended questions and address them from the situated position of researchers professionally and personally engaged in sensitive research processes.
The workshop has a hybrid format featuring invited speakers’ presentations from across the health sciences and anthropology followed by guided activities and discussion for the audience to take home new tools to address and embrace vulnerability in research.
The event is a joint initiative of AIAS and the Health Transitions Research Programme at the School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University.
| 08:30 - 09:00 | Arrival and breakfast |
| 09:00 - 09:15 | Welcome |
| 09:15 - 10:15 | Session I “Closeness and distance in participatory research. Notes from a project in neurodiversity studies" Federica Cavaletti (AIAS, Aarhus University & Università Telematica San Raffaele Roma, Italy) “On vulnerability: Reflections from embodying domestic violence in VR” Sofía Seinfeld (Psychology and Educational Sciences Dept. Universitat Oberta de Catalunya) |
| 10:15 - 10:30 | Questions to the speakers |
| 10:30 - 10:45 | Movement intervention - Stephanie Ellison (Dept. of Anthropology, Aarhus University) |
| 10:45 - 11:00 | Break |
| 11:00 - 12:00 | Session II “Being porous. Spiritual giftedness in Kyrgyzstan and what it may teach us about vulnerability” Maria Louw (School of Culture and Society - Dept. of Anthropology, Aarhus University) “Vulnerable to whom? Risk, care and the challenge of forensic psychiatry” Morten Deleuran Terkildsen (Dept. of Clinical Medicine - Dept. of Forensic Psychiatry, Aarhus University) |
| 12:00 - 13:30 | Questions to the speakers |
| 13:30 - 14:30 | Hands-on session |
| 14:30 - 14:45 | Break |
| 14:45 - 15:30 | Walk and talk, including drawing/marking activity |
| 15:30 - 16:00 | Sharing of insights and final talk/outview |
| 16:00 | End of day |
The workshop is open to all and free of charge by prior registration.
The event is organized by Rikke Sand Andersen, Federica Cavaletti, David Ekdhal, Katrin Heimann, Lotte Meinart, Mette Terp Høybye, and Gitte Vandborg Rasmussen, and is a joint initiative of AIAS and the Health Transitions research program at the School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University.
