Queer Science Festival | Complete Programme
Join the Queer Science Festival in Usva!
Here you can find the complete programme. For more information about the festival and how to get tickets, go to the event page
Theaterzaal | Lectures
Forgotten Trans* History. Lives beyond the (colonial) binary eng
Ester Jiresch and Gab Siqueira
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. Ester Jiresch and Gab Siqueira will discuss four case studies from different times and places.
Gab Siqueira (any pronouns) is a Brazilian queer activist and PhD researcher. They focus on the production and dissemination of knowledge about resistance and coping mechanisms developed within queer movements to promote equity and social justice. Currently, they are studying the life trajectories of queer activists in Brazil and the Netherlands from a psychosocial perspective.
Ester Jiresch (she/her) is assistant professor at the chair of European Culture and Literature at the RUG, and teaches in the University Minor Gender and Diversity in Science, Society and Culture. Her current research examines the cultural representations of transgender and intersex people in contemporary literature and film.
20.00 - 20.30
Anders dan de anderen. Homoseksualiteit op het snijvlak van literatuur en wetenschap nl
Mary Kemperink
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. Wat heeft deze kruisbestuiving tussen wetenschap en literatuur ons opgeleverd?
Mary Kemperink (zij/haar) is emeritus hoogleraar moderne Nederlandse letterkunde aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Zij publiceert over de relatie tussen literatuur en wetenschap, in het bijzonder over homoseksualiteit. In 2024 verscheen van haar bij Querido Facto het boek Anders dan de anderen. Homoseksualiteit op het snijvlak van literatuur en wetenschap.
20.45 - 21.15
Hidden barriers: the influence of pronouns on CVs eng
Yasin Koc
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. Yasin Koc will discuss this study and how these findings highlight the hidden barriers nonbinary applicants face and the urgent need for fairer hiring practices.
Yasin Koc (he/him) is an assistant professor of Social Psychology at the RUG studying identity, discrimination, and social change. His work explores how disadvantaged groups navigate societal structures and how people respond to diversity.
21.25 - 21.55
Zolder | Lectures
Veiligheid en welzijn van queer Groningersnl
Rixt Andriesse
Wat is het verband tussen sociale veiligheid en mentaal welzijn van LHBTQ+ personen in Groningen? En hoe beoordelen zij dit? Socioloog Rixt Andriesse deed hier onderzoek naar en deelt haar inzichten.
Rix Andriesse (zij/haar) haalde vorig jaar haar Masterdiploma Sociologie met een onderzoek naar veiligheid en queer welzijn in Groningen. Tegenwoordig werkt ze als Trainee voor Kenonz.
20.05 - 20.35
Everyone is Non-Binary: The lie of binary biological sexeng
Jan Behrens
What are the claims behind the scientific basis of biological sex being binary? And does it hold ground? Jan Behrens 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?
Jan Behrens (they/she) is a PhD student in Sociology at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen with a background in Health Psychology and Technology from the University of Twente. They now focus on exploring and addressing health inequalities faced by marginalised groups in society.
20.50-21.20
Queering the Black Musical Atlantic eng
Elizabeth Falade
How have the conventions and aesthetics of forms of Black Popular Music shaped the experiences and trajectories of Black queer women artists? Elizabeth Falade explores this topic with us.
Elizabeth Falade (she/her) is a DJ and Assistant Professor of Popular Music whose research focuses on the way that race, gender and sexuality shape musicking.
21.30-22.00
Usva Café
Our Exquisite Corpse
the pink cube.
Our Exquisite Corpse is a participatory artwork 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.
ongoing, 20.00-22.00
Ponyboi
Esteban Arango, 2024
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.
on repeat, 20.00-22.00
After Hours
Continue the conversation and share a drink in USVA’s café after the festival is over.
22.00-00.00
Blauwe Zaal
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.
Foyer
Citizen Science
In The Citizen Science area 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.
Bookshop
Walter’s Bookshop/Godert Walter provides a selection of books that fits within the evening’s theme.
20.00-22.00