My research allows me to work against representations on violence and marginalised people, representations that include me, as a black woman from a w… - Floretta Boonzaier

I especially enjoy doing research that provides the opportunity for collaboration. Research and writing can be a lonely endeavour, so the opportunity to engage with others in your field can be hugely enriching and my experience suggests that it advances innovative, creative and novel scholarship. I especially enjoy opening collaborative spaces through supervision of master’s and doctoral students and have often learned more from the students I supervise rather than the other way around.

It is important to think critically and to reflect on the ethical and political impact of your research – regardless of the ‘kind’ of psychology you end up doing. The contexts in which we work as researchers and psychologists – that involve deepening global and local inequalities, growing legitimised and institutionalised forms of racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and increasing poverty and dispossession – demand that we think carefully about how or whether our work advances social justice.

Pursue research interests that drive and sustain your passions – but also look around you and consider the contexts in which you work and what your work might be doing at the level of ethics, politics and representation.