U-CORE

Research and documentation project

The U-CORE project (full title "Research on the collection, storage and sharing of Ukrainian war-time testimonies 2022") is a continuation of documentation activities initiated in spring 2022 as part of the "February 24, 2022, 5 a.m.: War Testimonies" initiative by researchers from Ukraine, Poland, Luxembourg, Great Britain and Germany, whose aim was to record the Ukrainian experience of a full-scale invasion.

After collecting over 210 testimonies of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, 50 testimonies in Luxembourg and interviews with 150 internally displaced persons and volunteers in Ukraine, we are starting to conduct research on this material as part of a three-year grant financed by the National Science Center in Poland and the National Science Fund. Research in Luxembourg.

As part of our project, we will contact selected interviewees again to record a second round of interviews according to the previously developed methodology. Then, the interviews will be processed and all sources (first and second round interviews from Poland, Ukraine and Luxembourg) analyzed, including using innovative qualitative data analysis software. We will focus on the language of the interviews and the analysis of narrative structures, the formation of biographical and social memory about the Russian invasion, identity issues and migration strategies chosen by the interlocutors. The project will pay particular attention to issues of methodology and ethics of collecting, analyzing and sharing data on the ongoing armed conflict.

We will also work to create a unified digital environment that will become a destination for the entire collection and possibly, in the future, attract source materials from other projects. As a result of the project, the recorded interviews will be made available to people interested in conducting research and educational work at selected stationary access points using safe Open Source software. We will also undertake numerous popularization activities, such as preparing a graphic novel and an animated film, which will make it possible to bring the stories of our interlocutors to a wider audience in a way that allows sharing sensitive content.

The project will be implemented in cooperation with research teams from Luxembourg, Poland and Ukraine.

Methodology and Ethics

Methodology and ethics are very important in this project because its participants are vulnerable population, and the project itself is being implemented during an ongoing conflict.

Before the interview

Researchers contact people with whom they recorded interviews during the first phase of the project (2022-23) (only those who agreed to this). We will only interview people who are in a stable situation, who are not experiencing any serious crisis and who are not dependent on us. We want our interlocutors to really want to talk about their experiences.

The researcher's task is to make people participating in the project do so consciously. The researcher describes the situation of the interview itself, the objectives of the study and the further fate of the material. We pay special attention to the mental well-being of our participants, conversations with people with any signs of emotional crisis are excluded. Interviewees will receive the topics covered during the interview in advance and will have the opportunity to mark questions they do not want to answer and add questions they would like to include. The assumption of the entire study is an inclusive research methodology, aimed at providing the interlocutor with the greatest possible control over the structure and content of the conversation.

We give priority to on-site interviews whenever logistics allow. Online interviews are acceptable if the individual has been relocated to a remote destination beyond the logistical possibilities of travel (e.g., Canada, USA) or remains in a territory deemed unsafe by the researcher. /researchers make risk assessments but must inform the team of their decisions and take all possible measures to ensure the private safety of their interlocutors.

During a conversation

In this project, we create a situation in which the interviewee has the decisive say in various aspects, such as the time and place of the interview, the duration of the conversation, the level of anonymity and the specificity of using his testimony for various purposes, such as academic, educational or artistic. For us, the recording consent document is a space in which the participant can specify their preferences regarding the storage and administration of their data.

The interview focuses on personal experience, with particular emphasis on changes in everyday life since the first interview was recorded. We share the topics we will cover in the interview in advance so that our project participants can better prepare for the interview. We will talk, among others: about migration routes, changes in family relationships, changes in professional life, volunteering, etc. The interview is also an opportunity to discuss the experiences related to our first meeting: how it influenced the person's well-being and how the process of participating in the interview recording can be assessed.

Since we are conducting a project on the ongoing war, part of our reflection is devoted to the issue of sensitive information. Part of our methodology is a participatory approach; therefore, we will discuss this topic during the interview in order to develop a holistic and comprehensive definition of sensitivity, which will be transformed in the research process into a set of metadata in the digital environment where the interviews will be stored.

Post-interview

Researchers will contact participants by telephone the day after the interview to check whether the interview caused any discomfort. We will also keep in touch with each recorded person over a period of time. Recordings will be treated with confidentiality and caution. If the caller wants to remove certain parts from the recording, they will be cut out. The recording consent also includes room for additional requests from the participant regarding their certificate, e.g. an embargo on their use in a specific country or for specific purposes. If a participant withdraws his or her participation in the project, the recording will be excluded from the collection.

All interviews will be transcribed and stored in a secure digital space. For the duration of the project, copies of all certificates will also be  uploaded to the CatDV software administered by the University of Luxembourg, which enables members of all teams to work with the entire collection in a secure digital space. Once the project is completed, the collection will be made available via a secure digital platform available at selected on-site access points.

Our team holds regular supervision meetings with a psychologist, and ad hoc psychological support is also offered to our interlocutors.

Ethical assessment

The project received ethical approval at the national level (consent of the Polish Oral History Society and the Ethics Committee of the University of Luxembourg. We also received suggestions from our Scientific Council, which we followed before starting the interview collection process.

Scientific council

We are supported by the Scientific Council in the implementation of the project, which is composed of distinguished scientists from various countries, including those with experience in conducting research on topics that correspond to the subject matter of our project. The Council meets twice a year in an online format to discuss the current status of the project.

Victoria Sereda - Ivan Franko Lviv National University
Daria Mattingly - University of Cambridge
Stephen Naron - Yale University
Nerina Weiss - Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Studies
Barbara Engelking - Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów
Dariusz Stola - Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN
Katerina Kralova - Charles University
Tetiana Zhurzhenko - University of Vienna
Maryna Grymycz - writer, anthropologist