In the postgraduate community at University College Cork (UCC), we are keen to explore the practical challenges that we face as early career researchers engaged in feminist and gender-focused research. We have found that specific challenges arise with these types of work, such as the risk of burnout, ethical questions, and professional and personal boundary-setting. We have begun to exchange and collaborate on these concerns, questioning how we can engage meaningfully and ethically with other researchers, as well as creative and cultural practitioners - activists, artists, community members. The idea for this conference arose from those conversations.

With the support of the Violence, Conflict, and Gender research cluster of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Languages and Cultures (CASiLaC), we are planning a the postgraduate conference which creates a forum to discuss the relationship between scholarship, policy, art, activism, and lived experiences. We envision this conference as a space for discussing boundary-setting, care, and ethics, with the aim of creating lasting connections among individuals working across diverse contexts and in different capacities.