Creative writing for emotionally demanding research

What is this research about? 

Dr Ruth Beecher co-led Writing Difficult Subjects with Dr Julie Wheelwright, funded by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant. The project explored how academics researching sexual violence and other sensitive or complex topics can process the emotional impact of their work while developing practical self-care skills through creative writing.

Building on earlier pilot projects, the research led to the creation of a digital, trauma-informed creative writing toolkit. It brings together practical techniques and strategies to support researchers and others working with difficult subjects, helping them look after their own wellbeing while continuing essential research.

Why is this research important?  

An increasing number of PhD students and early career researchers are choosing to study topics such as gender-based violence and other socially sensitive issues. Their work is vital, but many begin this research without considering the emotional impact it can have or receiving guidance on how to manage it.

Whether researchers are interviewing survivors, working with people who have committed violence, observing frontline services or reading distressing historical records, they are often exposed to accounts of trauma that can affect their wellbeing. This can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, or what's known as secondary trauma.

While trauma-informed approaches have become more common in healthcare and social care, they have not yet been widely adopted in universities. Similar challenges also exist in creative writing, where students may choose to write about their own experiences of trauma or those of others. Academics supervising this work often receive little training or support in managing the emotional demands involved.

The project addresses this gap by bringing together expertise from gender-based violence research and creative writing. The toolkit offers practical, trauma-informed approaches that can help researchers, educators and students work more safely and sustainably with emotionally challenging material.

How was the project conducted?  

The project involved six in-person creative writing workshops for researchers working on gender-based violence in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

The workshops were designed around trauma-informed principles, creating a supportive environment where participants could explore the emotions connected to their research while developing self-care strategies. Through a range of creative writing exercises, participants experimented with imaginative and symbolic forms of writing that moved beyond traditional narratives of trauma, instead making space for stories of resilience, survival, and hope.

These workshops also allowed the research team to test and refine the techniques that now form the basis of the digital toolkit, which is designed to be shared widely with researchers working on other sensitive and complex topics.

Part of the grant funding was used to recruit a diverse group of participants across different backgrounds, career stages and lived experiences, while providing financial support for travel where needed to make participation as accessible as possible.

What are the outcomes?  

Evaluation showed that participants found the workshops highly beneficial, both for their wellbeing and for their creativity. Many reported feeling better equipped to manage the emotional demands of their research while also developing greater confidence in their writing.

Below are some quotes from participants:

"It definitely improved my emotional wellbeing connection to my work, and it did make me feel better about like breaking away from writing in a conventional academic way about sexual violence which I had started thinking about and doing last year. It massively improved my feelings about my own work and how to do it.”

"I've read so many fiction books since [doing the workshops]. I think it's about well-being and about how we protect ourselves from the impact of some of the materials we're dealing with in our academic work; then, of course, reading other things is going to be beneficial… It just made me kind of realise the importance as well - there are so many different ways to … talk about it or process… violence-related experience."

"[Previously] I felt really I was in constant rage and tension... I expected it wouldn't be as hard because I wasn't dealing with people. But it still had such a huge impact on me...[The creative writing] gives space to reflect on it and put it on paper, and then take it out of your body. And that's where I found creative writing and reflecting on how to engage or write in a different way than just a mere emotional distance academic way was really helpful."

What further impact possibilities are there for this research?  

The toolkit is intended to change how universities support researchers and students, embedding trauma-informed practice into everyday teaching, supervision and research culture. Beyond institutions, it offers direct, practical support to students, researchers and members of the public writing about difficult or taboo subjects.

Available in both physical and digital formats, the toolkit is designed for easy adoption - any university administrator or academic can implement it without needing specialist training first.

Dr Beecher and Dr Wheelwright will also present the toolkit at the Challenging Research Network, a group founded by Birkbeck academic Dr Louise Hide and now chaired by Beecher and Dr Emily Bridger at the University of Exeter. The network brings together an international community of researchers across the humanities and social sciences who work in complex, emotionally demanding and politically charged territories. Dr Wheelwright will also take the work to Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia in December 2026, where she will act as a Thinker in Residence and run workshops to further develop creative writing as a methodology for trauma-informed practice.

Through distribution of the toolkit and presentations to networks like these, the researchers hope to encourage universities, educators and employers to recognise that people researching or writing about trauma need meaningful, structural support.

Fact finder: 

• Full project title: Writing Difficult Subjects: Towards the development of creative writing as a self-care tool kit for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) of gender-based violence (GBV).
• Project funding: £9,965.20
• Funder: British Academy and Leverhulme
• Dates of research: Oct 2024 to June 2026
• Lead researcher: Dr Ruth Beecher