The Field Safety Training: Changing the Culture of Fieldwork course provides field research team leaders and field team participants with the skills and tools to build a welcoming and supportive field culture. This course will help you and your team develop norms and codes of conduct, and review or clarify leadership and field team organization. Additionally, you and your team will learn how to identify unsafe and harmful behaviors, respond appropriately to dissipate and mitigate these behaviors, and support those impacted by the behaviors. Finally, the course will provide tools to create, build, and support inclusive mentorship, consider additional factors for mitigating risk to diverse individuals in the field, and how to build cultural inclusivity within your team.

This course provides tools to address a growing awareness of the challenges of working (far) away from support networks and resources traditionally found at home. A deliberate approach to managing behaviors and hazards in the field can keep every individual safe and the team performing. This course is designed for every member of research teams operating in field environments, from seasoned academics, technical support staff to undergraduates.

Hello and welcome to Module 1 of ADVANCEing FieldSafety - Preparing for and evaluating hazards. The content of this module has been developed to guide planning as well as conversations with your team about hazards, ideally before you depart for your field campaign. This Module will also discuss the format of the course and introduce you to our course instructors.

Module 2 focuses on communication and group leadership in fieldwork settings. Because fieldwork can be stressful and unpredictable, fostering a safe, inclusive, and positive team culture is key to both addressing challenges early and supporting overall success. This module introduces tools for shared leadership, effective decision-making, and communication strategies that strengthen group dynamics.

Module 3 focuses on developing codes of conduct including institutional rules, values statements, and norms agreements. In this module you will understand how to create a Code of Conduct and why it facilitates a safe and inclusive environment in the field.

Module 4 covers responding to and maintaining safe, inclusive, and positive spaces. In this module you will learn how to recognize exclusionary behaviors and understand how to address conflict within a team.

Module 5, we provide guidance for creating, fostering, and sustaining supportive mentorship relationships; we will explore tools for successful mentoring and help mentors gain confidence in becoming a great mentor.

Module 6 covers keeping diverse field teams safe across a wide range of identities. In this module you will learn how to create and maintain a field safety plan that meets the unique needs of a team composed of people from varied backgrounds.

Module 7 looks at cultural inclusivity and why it matters for field teams. Working with people from different backgrounds can bring new ideas and experiences, but it can also create challenges in communication. Understanding these differences helps teams work together more effectively.