Research doesn’t always follow a clean path — and at the Health Methods Special Interest Group (MSIG) retreat in Birmingham, that truth was embraced. It was a rare opportunity to pause, reflect, and rethink how we navigate complexity in health research.
Organised by the National Centre for Research Methods, the MSIG retreat brought together PhD and early-career researchers from across the UK. Over the course of the event, we tackled themes often left out of traditional methods training: emotional labour, navigating uncertainty, and the ethics of adapting to real-life research settings.
For Accessible Waters, which relies on care-led and relational approaches, these discussions felt especially resonant. Hearing from others using sensory, creative, or collaborative methods helped affirm the value of working slowly, responsively, and with people — not just on or about them.
It was a reminder that “rigour” can mean responsiveness, and that inclusion often begins with listening. These kinds of spaces help us build better research cultures — ones that leave room for care, honesty, and growth.