Navigating research as a female ‘prostitute’ researcher

Female researchers’ work is often discredited within academic communities, especially in male-dominated fields such as security studies. But female researchers can also be undermined during fieldwork, where the role lies outside of local actors’ frame of reference for female professions. An Ansoms and Irène Bahati share personal experiences and outline the space needed to deal with the specific challenges women researchers face

Examining the contracts and lived experiences of local researchers in the global South

The movement to decolonise African knowledge systems has roots etched deep in history, which seeks to address the Eurocentric hegemony of academia and shed a light on its conscious and unconscious biases. These enduring approaches to knowledge production stifle the research process and how people contribute to that research. Research assistants in the global South are increasingly included in this discourse, with calls for a better consideration of their abilities, a proper respect for security precautions when working in conflict settings and their greater visibility in the process of research