Coping with distressing research: Emotional engagement and researcher well-being

In this Note, we address various aspects of researchers’ emotions when studying sensitive topics. Drawing on our own experiences and a workshop involving 30 researchers at various career stages, we explore how emotional engagement arises at different points in the research process. We argue that while general ethical codes and practices emphasize participant welfare, they often neglect the emotional labor that researchers themselves perform, regardless of the research methods and data they use. Emotional engagement is frequently invisible, unacknowledged, and unsupported, yet it can shape methodological choices, analytical insight, post-fieldwork experience, and researcher well-being. We show how informal support structures, peer conversations, and reflexive practices can help researchers make sense of ambiguous or difficult emotions. We conclude that recognizing emotional engagement strengthens researcher reflexivity, analysis, and research quality, and builds the foundation for more humane and sustainable research practice.