Reflections on empirical research with LGBTI refugees - a legal scholar's perspective

This paper seeks to reflect on the challenges related to conducting research with vulnerable persons. Specifically, it focuses on the case of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) asylum seekers and refugees, drawing on preliminary findings of ongoing fieldwork in the United Kingdom (UK) and Italy. After an outline of the research aims and methodology, this paper explores the challenges related to the researcher’s positioning vis-à-vis the fieldwork participants. The fieldwork underpinning this piece began in 2016 and is ongoing, and as such, this paper veers away from definite conclusions, rather advocating for the development of qualitative methodology in legal research.Published on Vol. 6 n. 2 of the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration. Available on the SOGICA database at http://www.sogica.org/database/venturi-reflections-on-empirical-research-with-lgbti-refugees-2017/status: Published onlin