Ethics for Practitioners in Research offers a timely and critical exploration of ethics in practitioner-led and practice-based research across the arts, humanities, education, social sciences, health and creative industries. Bringing together contributors from diverse disciplinary contexts, it examines how ethics is not simply a procedural requirement or institutional hurdle, but a relational, embodied and evolving practice embedded within research itself. Through chapters that address creative practices, participatory research, activism, neurodivergence, collaborative filmmaking, coaching, performance and socially engaged inquiry, the volume foregrounds the ethical complexities that emerge when researchers are deeply entangled with the practices they study.

The collection’s unique contribution lies in its reconceptualisation of ethics for practitioners in research as emergent, reflexive and co-created. Moving beyond compliance-based models of research governance, it offers new theoretical and practical insights for researchers, doctoral students, educators and practitioners seeking more nuanced and context-sensitive approaches to ethical research practice. Each chapter is accompanied by interdisciplinary responses that extend and reframe the discussion, creating a dynamic conversation across fields rather than a series of isolated case studies. In doing so, the book reveals how ethical dilemmas often transcend disciplinary boundaries while manifesting differently in situated contexts.