Hi everyone,

Thank you for everyone’s engagement during our two days of network meeting! A lot of very good ideas for the future came out of our discussions and I will try to summarize them below:

First of all: we have funding for the two coming years, from the Nordic LGBTI Fund (the Nordic Research Council)! https://nikk.no/en/fundproject/the-nordic-network-for-lgbti-research-on-health-and-living-conditions/ This includes money for keynotes, conference facilities for meetings (one per year) and for some time for me to work as a coordinator. Unfortunately there is no funding for travel or accommodation for participants, but I have applied for funding from Forte and Nordic Gender Fund as well – so hopefully this can be covered also for future meetings.

For coming network meetings we discussed several possible themes that we want to delve into:

• Methodology – 1. Labels/categories/terms, 2. Positionality (insider/outsider etc.’), 3. Who the research is for and by, participatory research (Would queer methods be something we can focus on for future program applications and project plans?)
• Pedagogy – dilemmas of teaching LGBTQ+ “knowledge”, lack of courses, more diverse student group - challenges
• Disciplinary issues – meet up in disciplinary as well as multi-disciplinary groups for support and strategies
• Early researchers’ perspectives – focus on applications, articles, mentoring
• Discussing conference ideas for 2027? – coordinating with history conferences (2025, 2026) and the trans conference (2026-27)
• Keynote suggestions: Sari Van Anders. We have quite a lot of money for keynotes, so please suggest your dream keynote to me!

Other plans:

• Zoom meetings for ideas/pitches, discussing texts, presenting results
• Arranging a workshop about LGBTQ+ research applications with PI’s from the Forte special call
• Edited volumes in Social Work and Education were discussed
• Conference working groups were discussed for the Nordic Social Work Conference and NERA, the Nordic Educational Research Association, conference

We have a coordinating group: Amanda Klysing, Mats Christiansen, Ylva Odenbring, Madeleine Kirsch Eriksson, Emilia Brusila

Thank you all for joining! It would be great to also have someone from Norway and Denmark.

Attached is a Menti cloud that summarize why people at the meeting wanted to participate and their wishes for the network – a very good inspiration for the future! We concluded that the social and community aspects of these types of meetings should not be underestimated, and we will continue to prioritize those.

I will get back to you with some plans for Zoom meetings in the spring. Please let me know if you want to be a part of the coordinating group, or arrange something for the network (maybe together with me) that you feel passionate about.

Warm regards and hopes for a restful holiday ahead,

Catrine

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Kiin Catrine Andersson

Associate Professor (Docent) of Social Work

Department for Social Work, Malmö University

205 06 Malmö