A panel presentation and discussion on how researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and other faculties at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) are advancing social justice through research into queer communities and "queering" research by exploring and challenging gender and sex-based binaries.

CHAIR

Kat Frolov (she/her) is the LGBTQIA+ Project Officer at UTS Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion. She advocates and supports staff and students who reflect every letter of the LGBTQIA+ Acronym at UTS. Kat is a former musician and classical singer (BMus Hons) who has a long history with the social sciences through years of advocacy work. Kat is currently completing a Master of Public health (research) and is passionate about amplifying the voices of LGBTQIA+ researchers.

SPEAKER BIOS

Tommaso Armstrong is a Human Computer Interaction PhD student at UTS. His research examines how social platforms shape the experiences of queer young men and explores how their design could be improved. He also teaches Interaction Design and Design Innovation subjects at UTS. He is fascinated by the interactions people have with technology and by the ethical, philosophical and societal implications surrounding them. He is passionate about using design for good and promoting inclusion, accessibility and well-being.

Dr Jess Gifkins is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at UTS. She is interested in how international relations are enacted on a day-to-day basis. Her research centers around two different themes. Her first theme is on decision-making within the United Nations, focused on the UN Security Council and the UN Secretariat. Within this strand she has published research on legitimation practices, penholding, agenda setting, peacekeeping, the relationship with the International Criminal Court, and early warning mechanisms. Her second theme is on the implementation of the ‘responsibility to protect’ (or ‘R2P’, as it is known) where she has researched language, case studies on conflicts in Darfur, Libya, and Syria, and the relationship between persecution of LGBTQI+ people, hate crimes, and atrocity crimes.

Atul Joshi identifies as he/him, a member of the queer community and as a person of colour. Born in Myanmar of Indian parents, he is currently a Ph.D. candidate at UTS researching queer biography and life writing via creative practice. He’s been shortlisted for the Saturday Paper’s Donald Horne Prize and the Newcastle Writers’ Festival Fresh Ink Prize. His fiction has appeared in The Big Issue, Seizure Online and Ricepaper Magazine, and non-fiction in Peril Magazine, the Portside Review, Growing up Queer in Australia and the Sydney Review of Books.

Anika Shah is a writer, researcher, and academic based in Sydney, Australia and Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is a Lecturer at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and a PhD Candidate at the University of Technology Sydney. She is currently researching the lived experiences of queer Bangladeshi women with a focus on disclosures and the discourse of ‘coming out’. Her research interests lie in the areas of gender and sexuality, studies of popular culture, literature, and gothic/horror genres.

This event is part of FASStival 2023 which is organised by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).