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Group

Gender Research Group

Unit(s) of assessment: Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience; Social Work and Social Policy; Education; Politics and International Studies

Research theme: Health and Wellbeing

School: School of Social Sciences

Overview

The Gender Research Group’s aim is to promote social and democratic inclusion and transformation at global, national and local levels through critical examination of the myriad ways gender matters in shaping people’s identities, experiences and opportunities. We identify and analyse how multiple and complex social, cultural, political and psychological processes and contexts intersect in the construction of identities and inequalities in gendered social relations.

Our group uses theoretical, empirical, practice and policy approaches from within the social sciences. Members are affiliated to Research Centres in the School of Social Sciences and to other research centres within Nottingham Trent University.

Objectives

The Group is a welcoming and supportive space which aims to develop, raise the profile, and increase the impact of, gender research in social sciences at Nottingham Trent University. We do this through the co-creation of development and networking opportunities for gender-related research activities and collaborations, leading to (for example) research seminars, conference papers and publications, funded projects, day conferences, and public engagement.

Membership

The Group brings together scholars interested in gender from different subject areas within the School of Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University, including sociology, psychology, politics and international relations, criminology, education, and social work, care and community. Members are a mix of established academics with strong reputations in gender-related publications, grant-capture and doctoral supervision, as well as doctoral students, research fellows and associates, early career researchers, and colleagues new to gender-focused research.

Objectives

The Group is a welcoming and supportive space which aims to develop, raise the profile, and increase the impact of, gender research in social sciences at Nottingham Trent University. We do this through the co-creation of development and networking opportunities for gender-related research activities and collaborations, leading to (for example) research seminars, conference papers and publications, funded projects, day conferences, and public engagement.

Membership

The Group brings together scholars interested in gender from different subject areas within the School of Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University, including sociology, psychology, politics and international relations, criminology, education, and social work, care and community.

Our group includes academic staff, doctoral students, and research fellows/associates, many of whom are involved in wider gender-related academic networks, and local, national and international gender advocacy and activist networks. Members are a mix of established academics with strong reputations in gender-related publications, grant-capture and doctoral supervision, as well as early career researchers, and colleagues new to gender-focused research.

Our events

Contemporary Sexualities: New Research (30 June 2023, 1pm BST)

Social science sits at the core of critical examinations of how shifts in people’s sexual identities and intimate erotic relationships are experienced in everyday life and understood at a societal level. In doing so, social science contributes to global, national and local level debates about sexualities and social justice in contemporary societies. This free online conference features a range of social scientists at different stages of their careers, whose work showcases the dynamism of sexuality identities, the nuances of sexual inequalities, and the challenges studying these issues can present. Presenters engage with a range of themes, for example, pleasure, desire, safety and exploitation, sexual health, sexualities and digital media, sex work, minoritized sexualities, young people’s sexualities.

Programme (in order of appearance)

Speaker Talk title
Daisy Matthews, Nottingham Trent University Can sex workers be religious and spiritual?
Anthony Gifford, Nottingham Trent University 'Oh, why are PrEP gays always like this...': Psychosocial influences on UK-based MSM's relationships with, and use of, PrEP
Andrew Dunn, Nottingham Trent University Misperceptions in partner body size preferences in heterosexual and homosexual men and women
Alex Toft, Nottingham Trent University 'These made-up things mean nothing to me': Understanding the intersection of autism and bisexuality in the lives of young people
Sarah Seymour-Smith, Nottingham Trent University A critical discursive psychology analysis of parents' online posts about adolescent sexting
Keynote speaker: Professor Teela Sanders with Dr Rachel Keighley, University of Leicester Sexualities online: liberation, exploitation, and responses to perpetrators

Event recordings

Gender Matters Conference 2022 (6 July 2022, 1pm BST)

Social science sits at the core of critical examinations of the myriad ways gender matters in shaping people’s identities, experiences and opportunities, and its contribution has significant ramifications for academic knowledge as a whole. Gender studies in social science also feeds into global, national and local level policy developments addressing social and democratic inclusion and transformation. This free online conference features a range of social scientists at different stages of their careers, whose work showcases the currency and dynamism of gender and sexuality identities and inequalities, and the challenges and opportunities studying these issues can present.

Programme (in order of appearance)

Speaker Talk title
Clare Lushey, Nottingham Trent University 'Women's self-presentation on Instagram'
Carrie Paechter, Lyndsey Stoodley and Mike Keenan, Nottingham Trent University 'What's it like to be a girl skateboarder? Identity, participation and risk for young women in skateboarding communities'
Daisy Matthews, Nottingham Trent University 'Identity management for women who are religious and spiritual'
Beth Jones, Nottingham Trent University 'Why can family be protective of poor health and wellbeing in trans and gender diverse youth'
Eva Prikrylova, Nottingham Trent University 'The experience of social support of heterosexual couples during their infertility treatment'
Hind Elhinnawy, Nottingham Trent University 'The Role of Difference in Feminist Transnational Solidarity: The Case of Secular Muslim Feminists in Britain and France'
Keynote speaker: Finn Mackay, University of West England 'Researching female masculinities in the context of the UK gender wars'

Event recordings

Related staff

Related projects

Members of the Gender Research Group have carried out a range of projects including:

  • Masculinities and men’s health
  • LGBTQi+ parented families and schools
  • Gendered approaches to peer support for women who self-harm in custody
  • Gender and personal naming practices
  • Physical activity, mental health and transgender people
  • Parents’ return to work
  • Young disabled LGBT people: exploring the rights and needs of a marginalised community