Panel Discussion | What Does Queer Do?

What does queer mean? What does queer do? Is queer a noun, verb, or adjective?

Join us for a conversation bringing together expertise in queer history and contemporary life. Professor Matthew Ball (QUT), Professor Alastair Blanshard (UQ), and Dr Karin Sellberg (UQ) will unpack this prolific concept from antiquity to the present, from the ideal to the real.

Image: Gian Manik 'Endroits agréables' 2025. Photo: Joe Ruckli

Professor Alastair Blanshard is the Paul Eliadis Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Queensland. His research work examines the intersection of masculinity and the erotic. He is one of the editors of a recent collection on the work of Oscar Wilde and the Classics and he is a contributor to the Routledge Handbook of Classics and Queer Theory.

Dr Karin Selberg is a lecturer in humanities at the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland. She is primarily a literary studies scholar with research interests in gender studies, trans* and queer theory, and her publications include two books; Gender: Time (2018) and Corporeality and Culture (2014) and a forthcoming book on transgender identity narratives (Edinburgh UP, 2026).

Matthew Ball is a Professor in the School of Justice at Queensland University of Technology. His research explores the intersections of sexuality, gender diversity, and criminal justice, and he is a foundational scholar in the field of Queer Criminology. He is the author of Criminology and Queer Theory (2016) and the editor of several volumes, most recently LGBTQ+ Issues in Criminology and Criminal Justice (2024).