In Spring 2018, Dr. Kakali Bhattacharya visited IU Bloomington as part of the Graduate Mentoring Center’s Trailblazers and Innovators series, and also presented "Culturally Congruent Critical and Contemplative Qualitative Research" at the Workshop in Methods. In this workshop, several graduate students found a space that welcomed and supported the qualitative research methods they were using in a way that fields focused primarily on quantitative methodologies don’t always provide.

Inspired by Dr. Bhattacharya’s workshop, these graduate students organized the inaugural “Researching the Margins: Conducting Qualitative Research in Quantitative Fields” symposium, which seeks to decolonize research and provide a space for qualitative researchers in quantitative fields. This two-day symposium was held on November 14-15, 2019, at the Social Science Research Commons (Woodburn Hall 200), and was sponsored by the Emissaries for Graduate Student Diversity and the Graduate Mentoring Center.

The symposium brought together interested researchers for talks, including a keynote address, toolkit sessions focusing on a range of qualitative methodologies, and lightning talks that gave every participant the opportunity to present his or her research. The symposium also provided ample opportunities for making connections with other qualitative researchers and time to write and reflect. While the symposium was designed with graduate students in mind, all were welcome to attend.