An asset‐based model for fieldwork training workshops

Abstract Although conducting fieldwork is common for environmental scientists, not everyone feels welcomed or valued in field settings. This can result from a range of social and interpersonal challenges, including implicit bias, power dynamics, communication barriers, and mismatched expectations within research teams. Sometimes, team members may directly or indirectly express their negative preconceptions, or assumptions and beliefs, of others based on what they have experienced, learned, or observed. However, we contend that when teams foreground the strengths each person brings, it can help team members work cohesively and productively, as well as foster a sense of belonging in the field. Professional development, such as training workshops, may help field teams identify their individual and collective assumptions about who a successful fieldworker is, a necessary step for setting collaborative norms of engagement. Here, we describe a heuristic (ICR‐P: Identify, Classify, and Reframe Preconceptions) designed for environmental scientists to reframe their deficit‐based preconceptions of others (working in the field) as assets. Our pilot implementations of the workshop and the evaluative feedback we received from our participants have been positive. Although there is a need to test and validate our model, we present ICR‐P as a tool that may support training efforts to build inclusivity in fieldwork for environmental scientists.