Gender Research Network
We are a vibrant interdisciplinary network of over 90 scholars conducting cutting-edge, socially engaged research into gender, sexuality, feminist thought and queer studies.
Our Work
We are a vibrant interdisciplinary network of over 90 scholars conducting cutting-edge, socially engaged research into gender, sexuality, feminist thought and queer studies. Our internationally renowned transnational scholarship examines how societal norms and expectations around gender and sexuality shape political, economic and cultural life.
The Gender Research Network champions and promotes the wide range of world-leading gender research taking place across our University. We connect researchers across disciplines to explore interdisciplinary solutions to pressing social issues, by disrupting disciplinary divides we foster theoretical, empirical and methodological advances in gender and sexuality studies.
The network was founded to help create an intellectual home for gender scholars across our University, and to explore how interdisciplinary collaboration might lead to theoretical and methodological innovation: from the questions we ask, the methods we use, to the knowledge we value.
We run frequent events, public lectures, seminars, and roundtables. The network supports writing collaborations, interdisciplinary grant applications and collaborative policy engagement.
We also run a series of researcher development events, with tailored support for postgraduate and early career researchers. A key aim of the network is to create a space of collaboration and care, where gender researchers can find connections and support across career stages.
Who we are
Co-directors
(Gender Research Network Co-Director)
Key expertise: Gender diversity, feminist theory, feminist activism and social movements, citizenship and recognition, the body.
(Gender Research Network Co-Director)
Key expertise: LGBTQ+ lives, queer futures, gendered precarity and housing, the politics of affect and emotion, care
- Executive members
Dr Sara Ababneh (School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations)
Key expertise: gendered politics in the Arab world, politics of resistance, Arab Uprisings, mandate Palestine, postcolonial feminist international relations theory.
(School of Geography & Planning)
Key expertise: mobilities and transport (critical and feminist approaches); feminist and queer theory; body-environment relations; interdisciplinarity; geoethics
(School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations)
Key expertise: the gendered body, the fat body, health and disability, social justice and technology, feminist research methods, digital activism
(School of Architecture and Landscape)
Key expertise: Masculinities and Digital Cultures, Autotheory, Gloria Anzaldúa, Utopia and Futures, Storytelling.
(School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations)
Key expertise: reprogenetic technology, social movements, robots and AI, science and technology studies, feminist STS
(Management School)
Key expertise: work and employment inequalities; socio-economic vulnerabilities; workplace discrimination and violence; gender attitudes and parental roles; postcolonial feminist perspectives
(School of Information, Journalism and Communication)
Key expertise: Health communication, menstrual health, energy limiting conditions, digital activism
(Management School)
Key expertise: equity, identities, gender and sexuality, professional firms, intersectionality
Research Network Associates
(Postgraduate researcher in the Centre for Care and School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations)
Key expertise: Interdisciplinary feminist approaches to care and care work, race and racialisation, migration, networks and practices of resistance
(Postgraduate researcher at the School of Education)
Key expertise: Intersectional feminist approaches towards race, gender and spirituality, multi-modal counter-narratives/marginalised stories of resistance, young people’s identity formation in educational spaces.
¾Ã²Ý¸£Àû
The Gender Research Network organizes frequent seminars, roundtables, lectures and researcher collaboration events. Our events showcase innovative research at the cutting edge of gender studies, feminist theory, and queer studies. We also host a number of researcher development workshops for those working on gender/ sexuality, with events tailored specifically for postgraduate and early career researchers.
Get in touch with gender@sheffield.ac.uk to find out more about upcoming events.
Connect with us
Membership is open to postgraduate research students and academics across the University. Those internal to the University can join the network by
The Gender Research Network is committed to intersectional approaches to social justice, recognising the inherent interrelation between structures of inequality (e.g. misogyny, class, racism and white supremacy, transphobia, and ableism). We therefore welcome members who support the following founding principles of the network:
to engage critically with interdisciplinarity, fostering mutual learning, reflexivity and exchange across diverse perspectives and positionalities.
to conduct research that is transformative, intersectional and committed to social justice.
- to help foster a collaborative, caring and inclusive research environment, to respect and value the diverse identities and lived experiences of network members, and to actively work to support marginalized and precarious members of the network.
If you are external to the University but want to be kept updated about activities, events, PhD scholarships or job openings then please join our mailing list or follow us on social media.
Postgraduate researchers
If you are a prospective PhD student looking for a supervisor working on gender, sexuality, feminisms, and/or queer studies then the first step is to look at the university's ‘’. If you cannot find anyone who matches your research interest, please contact gender@sheffield.ac.uk and we will try and pair you up with a suitable supervisor who can help support your application.
Independent postdoctoral fellowships
If you are an early career researcher looking for a mentor and host for an independent postdoctoral fellowship for a project relating to gender, sexuality, feminisms, and/or queer studies you can contact gender@sheffield.ac.uk. Please provide a brief outline of your topic and we will try to find you a suitable mentor to support your application. We also occasionally run webinars to support those applying for independent fellowships at Sheffield, so please get in touch if this might be of interest.
Looking for an expert in feminism, gender or sexuality?
The network can help connect you with a relevant gender expert. This could be for an interdisciplinary funding application, a media enquiry, or something else. Please contact gender@sheffield.ac.uk and we will try to link you with the appropriate person.
Want to discuss a potential external collaboration, partnership or event?
Researchers across our network are committed to socially-engaged community research, and we currently collaborate with a number of non-academic partners such as feminist organizations, LGBTQ+ charities, arts organizations, NGOs, councils and policy makers. We are always keen to hear from organizations who might want to collaborate or connect, so please contact gender@sheffield.ac.uk.