Queer Science Festival

Join the Queer Science Festival in Usva! This festival is for anyone curious about LGBTQ+ related research.  

Attend one of the many lectures, such as those on forgotten trans* history or the influence of queer artists on Black Popular Music. In The Living Library, researchers become "books" that you can request for a conversation.  

In the Usva Café, the participatory art project Our Exquisite Corpse by The Pink Cube provides awareness to the endless waiting lists in transgender healthcare. While you’re there, enjoy a drink and watch the narrative featurette Ponyboi. Go to the Citizen Science area where you are invited to contribute to scientific research by participating in experiments on queer topics. Walter’s Bookshop offers a selection of queer books.  

Throughout the festival, you can engage in conversations with queer researchers and members of queer organizations. And if at the end of the evening you still have unanswered questions, you’ll be able to leave your LGBTQ+ related research questions in our Idea Box to help inform the work of researchers at the University of Groningen.   

Lectures

Forgotten Trans* History. Lives beyond the (colonial) binary
Trans lives have often been obliterated in the past, creating the illusion that transgender is an “invention” of the late 20th century. However, gender non-conforming people have always existed. Assistant professor Ester Jiresch (she/her) and queer activist/researcher Gab Siqueira (any pronouns) will discuss four case studies from different times and places.

Anders dan de anderen. Homoseksualiteit op het snijvlak van literatuur en wetenschap
Hoe behandelden medici homoseksualiteit in de negentiende eeuw? In een tijd waarin dit juridisch en maatschappelijk verboden was, wonnen zij informatie uit romans en gedichten. Mary Kemperink (zij/haar), emeritus hoogleraar moderne Nederlandse letterkunde, onderzocht dit. Wat heeft deze kruisbestuiving tussen wetenschap en literatuur ons opgeleverd?

Hidden barriers: the influence of pronouns on CVs
How does sharing pronouns influence hiring decisions? Candidates who used nonbinary pronouns (they/them) on their CVs were rated less favorably than those who used he/him or no pronouns - especially by people with stronger biases. Assistant professor of social psychology Yasin Koc (he/him) will discuss this study and how these findings highlight the hidden barriers nonbinary applicants face and the urgent need for fairer hiring practices.

Veiligheid en welzijn van queer Groningers
Wat is het verband tussen sociale veiligheid en mentaal welzijn van LHBTQ+ personen in Groningen? En hoe beoordelen zij dit? Socioloog Rixt Andriesse (zij/haar) deed hier onderzoek naar en deelt inzichten.

Everyone is Non-Binary: The lie of binary biological sex
What are the claims behind the scientific basis of biological sex being binary? And does it hold ground? PhD student Jan Behrens (they/she) discusses gender/sex as a biological, psychological and sociological phenomenon that we mostly split into male and female categories. How can we deconstruct the myths around them?

Queering the Black Musical Atlantic 
How have the conventions and aesthetics of forms of Black Popular Music shaped the experiences and trajectories of Black queer women artists? Dj and Assistant Professor of Popular Music Elizabeth Falade (she/her) explores this topic with us.

Other

Art | Our Exquisite Corpse
Our Exquisite Corpse is a participatory artwork by The Pink Cube that brings awareness to the endless waiting lists in transgender healthcare. Participants are invited to contribute to a long quilt while keeping track of the time they spend on it, after which all that time is added up. The artwork is not finished until we collectively reach 1.314.900 minutes, or 30 months: the waiting time for an intake with the gender team at the UMCG.

Film | Ponyboi
In the short film Ponyboi, an intersex sex worker in New Jersey searches for love and escape, ultimately discovering their self-worth through a magical encounter.

Living Library
What is it like to be a queer activist? How do you investigate sexual objectification? In the Living Library you can directly ask your questions and engage in conversations with queer researchers and members of queer organizations. Here, researchers become "books" that can be rented out for a conversation about the topic of their study. "Readers" decide which books they want to take out on the basis of the short blurbs that are available at the librarian's desk. In each conversation readers can ask “books” all sorts of questions relating to their expertise or lived experience.

Citizen Science area
Here you are invited to contribute to scientific research yourself by participating in experiments on queer topics. Are your questions in the end still unanswered? Leave your own LGBTQ+ related research questions in our Idea Box to inform the work of researchers at the University of Groningen. 

See the complete programme for more information

This film screening is part of Queer Science: a series of events for anyone curious about LGBTQ+ related research and art. On three occasions, we bring together researchers, art, and the public to challenge norms and critically engage with science and culture.

Organized by Studium Generale, Usva, the Faculty of Arts, and RUG’s Centre of Expertise for the Study of LGBTQIA+ Issues