By Dr. Andreea Mosila
Doctor in Global Security Alumna and Fulbright Scholar
In the fall of 2024, I arrived in Romania’s Danube Delta on a research trip with my notebook and recording gear. However, what began as a research trip became a transformative experience.
My work took me to places like the Letea Sandbank, Sfântu Gheorghe and Somova. I talked with people in remote villages to get answers to questions written in my research proposal: “How are people here affected by climate change?” and “What does resilience look like in ecologically fragile places?”
But the answers did not merely come through interviews or surveys. They came over tea in kitchens and during the cleaning of fish. I also spoke to women walking home from church, who had lived through wars, droughts, food shortages and family losses.
Doing Field Work as a Female Researcher Was a Unique Experience
Doing field work as a woman opened doors that I did not know existed. I was invited into intimate spaces, and the women I interviewed spoke about their grief, joy, and memories.
But being a female researcher in the field also meant being more aware of vulnerability, both my own and theirs. My research trip was not just collecting data about others’ lives.
I was being constantly watched, assessed and sometimes warned. “Be careful,” an older woman told me once. “Not everyone here means well.”
Another asked, with sincerity, “Are you not afraid to go around alone?”
I came to realize that researching women is not simply about recording their stories. Instead, it’s about creating a safe space for them to tell their stories truthfully and on their own terms.
Some of the most meaningful moments of my research trip did not happen when I was collecting data. They happened when I stopped taking notes and started simply being present. Some of my most memorable events included:
- When I was asked to sing along to an old carol
- When someone handed me a homemade donut because “you have been walking all day”
- When an elderly woman asked if I was married, not out of curiosity, but because she was worried I might be lonely so far from home
I started to realize that my role was not just to extract knowledge, but to build relationships. A research trip in areas like the Danube Delta is never just about the environment or policy; it is about people. It is about care, trust, shared meals and the quiet dignity of people who keep communities alive when institutions forget them.
Good Research Requires Active Listening, Not Just Asking Questions
I now believe that good research, especially feminist-oriented research, begins with active listening. Active listen requires humility, and it should always give something back.
This year taught me that when we talk about “vulnerable women,” we often miss the point. The women of the Danube Delta are not passive victims of environmental change.
They are experts in adaptation, survival and care. They are holding their communities together, with or without state support.
The Lessons That My Research Trip to the Danube Delta Taught Me
As a woman in the field of global security, I often find myself in rooms dominated by abstract frameworks, threat assessments and top-down policy debates. But walking through the Danube Delta taught me something that no seminar ever could. Security is not just about borders, risks, or geopolitics; it is also about care, connection, and the safety of individuals.
For women in global security, especially those of us coming from feminist or human-centered traditions, this work is about expanding the meaning of “security.” It is about recognizing that a broken well, a lost fishing right or unpaid caregiving can be as destabilizing as any formal crisis.
My time in the Danube Delta reminded me that if we truly want to build secure societies, we have to start by listening to resilient women. We must ask ourselves: whose knowledge do we trust, and whose security counts?
For more about human security and women in the Danube Delta, please read my most recent article.
About the Author
Dr. Andreea Mosila is an alumna of the University and a Fulbright Scholar. She holds a bachelor’s degree in space studies, a master’s degree in political science and a doctoral degree in global security from American Public University. In addition, Dr. Mosila holders a master’s degree in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
She is the founder of wSEC – Women in Security, a student organization at the University, which is dedicated to advancing research and dialogue on security challenges. Andreea has written extensively on global security with a focus on space, climate, and health security. As a Fulbright researcher, Andreea’s work examines the intersection of human security, policy, and resilience in the Danube Delta.
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