LGBT+ History Month

To mark LGBT+ History Month (2025), Glasgow Caledonian’s Student Wellbeing Team partnered with the Library’s Relax and Renew Team and Graduate School to host a Research Café on Thursday, 6 February, showcasing some of the university’s research with LGBTQIA+ communities.

We welcomed back two researchers we had heard from in 2024 to learn about how their research has progressed and what the real-world applications could be in terms of creating more inclusive and sustainable nightlife spaces for LGBTQIA+ communities.

Beth Meadows (SHLS) is currently working on her PhD exploring people’s experiences of alcohol-free nightlife spaces and highlighting some of the positives as well as the barriers around this emerging scene.

Daniel Baxter (Senior Lecturer and Associate Dean of GSBS) has been exploring how destinations and event venues aiming to become more sustainable must also consider the social perspective. His work remains centred on LGBTQIA+ communities, emphasising the importance of creating and maintaining safe spaces where individuals feel secure and valued. Daniel concludes that by fostering such environments, consumers are more likely to engage with and think about sustainability and consumption.

We were also joined on the day by our partner organisation Glasgow Council on Alcohol whose LGBTQIA+ support service, KInder, Stronger, Better attended the café and set up a pop-up stall for GCU students to find out about the support they offer.

The event generated a lot of interesting and important discussions, and we thank everyone for their contributions. Special thanks to our researchers and to Seth Thompson and the Sir Alex Ferguson Library for hosting the event.

LGBT+ Research at Glasgow Caledonian

GCU's Professor Carol Emslie, Ms Jemma C. Lennox and Dr Lana Ireland have undertaken research on the impacts of alcohol on LGBTQ+ communities in Scotland. The research has also fed into the #KinderStrongerBetter campaign which highlights issues of substance use among LGBTQ+ people in Scotland and signposts to useful resources.

GCU's Mel McKenna in partnership with Strathclyde's Stephanie Mckendry have contibuted to Advance HE's The Hidden Curriculum of Higher Education with their paper 'Is the hidden curriculum binary?'.

With colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, GCU’s Professor Simon Hunter has been involved in the development of a game to improve help seeking and coping among young people who identify as a sexual and/or gender minority, with a particular focus on their experiences of bullying. A protocol paper has been published describing the game and ongoing evaluation. A qualitative exploration of these experiences has also been accepted for publication.

Dr Heather Gray and Rachel Simpson led a project to explore inclusive curricula to support BAME and LGBTQI+ Students. The project was part of the QAAs Enhancement Themes and more information is available at the project webpage.

GCU Staff and Students are also able to access a variety of research through GCU's Sir Alex Ferguson Library. Alongside hundreds of results for LGBT resources, individuals are able to access specifically the journals relating to LGBT support and academic at the Browzine webpages.

Higher Education Sector Resources

TransEdu

For further information about supporting transgender students in Higher Education, please refer to the TransEdu materials created by University of Strathclyde.

TransEdu have also recently published additional guidance for supporting students in online learning environments called: Covid-19: Supporting Transgender, non-binary and gender diverse learners in an online context.

Advance HE

Advance HE have a series of Guidance and Resources for HE and colleges.

Advance HE have also produced a publication exploring the impact of the Hidden Curriculum, including a chapter on the binary nature of the curriculum.

Gendered Intelligence

Gendered Intelligence have published Achieving Trans Inclusion & Valuing Gender Diversity in Educational Settings

LGBTQIA+ students

Find out more about the support available for LGBT+ Students at GCU.

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Student wellbeing advice

The Student Wellbeing Advisers work with students who have wellbeing concerns and ensures they have meaningful face-to-face contact in a timely manner.

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