Abstract
Design researchers are increasingly being exposed to stressors while empathizing with their participants such as feeling emotionally charged, leading them to feeling vulnerable. Currently, there is a lack of clear consensus on how this vulnerability arises and manifests, hindering both individual and collective awareness and support. To address this gap, we conducted an empirical investigation into the vulnerability of design researchers. We conducted exploratory workshops with PhD students working in the field of design research in sensitive settings. The workshops consisted of three approaches to understand researcher vulnerability: (1) Reflecting on individual and collective vulnerability, (2) Exploring embodied experiences, and (3) Establishing a collective narrative. Through these approaches, we contribute an understanding of design researcher’s vulnerability, which changes over time, is manifested in bodily experience, and poses systemic challenges.
Keywords
Researcher vulnerability, Sensitive settings, Bodily experiences
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1844
Citation
Moghe, B., Antognini, R., Dideriksen, S., Peng, Z., Toso, F., and Houben, M. (2026) Exploring Common Understandings and Bodily Experiences of Vulnerability in Design Researchers in Sensitive Contexts, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1844
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Exploring Common Understandings and Bodily Experiences of Vulnerability in Design Researchers in Sensitive Contexts
Design researchers are increasingly being exposed to stressors while empathizing with their participants such as feeling emotionally charged, leading them to feeling vulnerable. Currently, there is a lack of clear consensus on how this vulnerability arises and manifests, hindering both individual and collective awareness and support. To address this gap, we conducted an empirical investigation into the vulnerability of design researchers. We conducted exploratory workshops with PhD students working in the field of design research in sensitive settings. The workshops consisted of three approaches to understand researcher vulnerability: (1) Reflecting on individual and collective vulnerability, (2) Exploring embodied experiences, and (3) Establishing a collective narrative. Through these approaches, we contribute an understanding of design researcher’s vulnerability, which changes over time, is manifested in bodily experience, and poses systemic challenges.