29 Aug Low-Resource Research Ethics Research Focus Group
Low-resource research raises urgent questions about power and who has it—questions that are technical, ethical, and epistemological. Dominant research tools often fail in contexts they weren’t designed for, introducing bias and excluding marginalized knowledge systems. These gaps can lead to significant power imbalances, where the people who generate or are represented by data have little say in how it is collected, interpreted, or used.
Low-resource research is informed by data scarcity, linguistic marginalization, and limited institutional access. Scholars with “low-resource” research projects engage with small or inaccessible data, underrepresented languages, and restricted material infrastructure. In sharing strategies and ethical frameworks, the Low-Resource Research Ethics RFG brings together UCSB researchers to reflect critically on their methods and collectively develop inclusive approaches across campus. This group encourages interdisciplinary collaboration through peer feedback and the creation of a set of shared ethical standards.
Conveners:
Laurel Brehm, Linguistics
lbrehm@ucsb.edu
Annie K. Lamar, Classics
aklamar@ucsb.edu
Cypris Roalsvig, Classics
eroalsvig@ucsb.edu