Conducting research in a conflict zone: reflective remarks and lessons learned from my field experience in Syria

In this paper, I will reflect on my field experience in Syria where I conducted semi-structured interviews as part of my doctorate studies to examine the recently ousted Syrian government’s post-war initiatives to reconstruct the education sector. As a thinking piece, the aim of this paper is to provoke questions about the complexity of conducting qualitative research in a conflict zone and what implications this has for data generation and research ethics. The paper emphasises the central role of reflexivity as a ‘methodological process of learning’ about our development as researchers. It also concludes that there is a need to review current research ethics processes so that they can accommodate the needs of a more diverse body of researchers and research contexts.