Building a Better Fieldwork Future: Origins of a Program to Increase Safety in Science

Melissa Cronin

Despite field work being a longstanding practice in the sciences, concerns about sexual harassment and assault in field work has only entered the scientific community dialogue recently, spurred by studies showing that most field participants experience harassment as well as highly publicized cases in the media. This exposure has increased concern and communication around sexual harassment and assault in field-based science—which is second only to the U.S. military in terms of harassment prevalence—and consequently action to better respond to and prevent this phenomenon to make science safer and more inclusive. Melissa Cronin is one of three women who came together to address the latter appraoch and develop a program to prevent harassment. She recently spoke to an audience of faculty, staff, and students at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) via Zoom as part of the Women in Scientific & Environmental Professions (WiSE Professions) speaker series on March 31, 2021.

            Cronin began by addressing the unique challenges presented by field work, including limited outside communication and ways to leave, close quarters, power asymmetry, and interactions with non-group members, among others. After addressing the recently acknowledged prevalence of harassment and assault in field work, Cronin explained that an effective way to prevent these instances from occurring is to address the “organizational climate”, or the shared collective norms and values of an organization or setting. This motivation, to change organizational climate, drives the program she co-developed with Drs. Roxane Beltran and Erika Zavaleta called Building a Better Field work Future: Preventing & Managing Sexual Harassment & Assault in Field Science, or BBFF for short.

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            BBFF is a 90-minute, highly interactive workshop that has now been conducted for over 800 participants across many institutions, including some in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria. This program provides examples of tangible policies that institutions can adopt relating to harassment prevention, intervention, and response, such a developing a code of conduct or community agreement (prevention), hosting bystander intervention training (intervention), or implementing zero-tolerance policies (response). This workshop then leads participants through four scenarios increasing in severity and encourages participants to “think out loud” and discuss solutions to these scenarios, keeping in mind that there may be no “right answer.” With an intentionally positive and empowering tone, this workshop helps participants prepare for their field season and become aware of issues and experiences they were not aware of before.

            The popularity of BBFF has grown considerably, and assessments indicate that the highly rated workshop is increasing participants’ knowledge and confidence in these issues. BBFF has become so popular and in high demand that they have implemented a new “Train the Trainers Facilitator Program”, which trainers other individuals, who so far have come from a wide range of disciplines and career stages, to host these BBFF workshops elsewhere. Cronin and her colleagues have also made resources widely available and hope to contribute to a more inclusive cultural shift that values prevention of these issues.

            Melissa Cronin is a Ph.D. candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Santa Cruz, where she studies mapping and mitigating marine fisheries bycatch as a member of the Conservation Action Lab. Prior to her graduate studies, Cronin worked as an environmental journalist covering climate, politics, and wildlife crime, with stories appearing in The New York Times and Popular Science, among other outlets.

            BBFF is coming to SUNY ESF on April 15^th from 7:00-8:30 pm, for those who are interested in experiencing this interactive workshop. This workshop, the next installment in the WiSE Professions speaker series, will be led by Dr. Amanda Adams, Conservation Research Program Manager, Bat Conservation International and Lecturer, Biology, Texas A&M University. Space is still available; sign up at bit.ly/WiSEProfessions.

Perspectives on Career and Gender/WiSE Professions

As part of the course requirements for FOR797 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share  responsibility of reporting on speakers, both in class and in the campus-wide Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series.  The preceding was prepared byJenna Zukswert, graduate research assistant and PhD student, SUNY-ESF Department of Sustainable Forest Resources.