Yessica’s interest in intersex causes started in law school where she looked for the creation of awareness around the human and fundamental rights of the intersex population and their particular situations. She finished her bachelor’s degree in Law and began to work in an NGO, building projects for the resocialization of victims of the Colombian armed conflict, and the recognition of the LGBTI population as independent victims of this. Following this, she did a specialization in criminal law which allowed her to get a broader perspective for her job. She next worked in the Ministry of Public Affairs, the dependency of Human Rights, in the creation of public policy for the LGBTI community which includes the particular needs of the intersex population. This was the first time governmental spaces were opened for the debate and establishment of public consciousness of the needs of the intersex population and the protection of their human right

Yessica also worked in the Ministry of Agriculture protecting the human rights of the indigenous population to get access to new lands as part of the peace agreements and finally moved to Budapest to study a Master’s in International Relations to gain a better understanding of intersex causes in Europe.

Yessica commenced her 36-month Marie Skłodowska Curie fellowship at Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública in Spain in January 2021.

Publications:

Yessica Mestre-Martínez

“These Researchers Think They Come From Heaven with Analytical Superpowers When They Don’t”: A Qualitative Analysis of Research Experiences in Intersex-Related Studies
Social Sciences. 2024;13(8);421
Published 12 August 2024

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13080421

https://zenodo.org/records/13379238

Yessica Mestre
The Human Rights Situation of Intersex People: An Analysis of Europe and Latin America
Social Sciences 2022, 11(7), 317 (Published 20 July 2022)
https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11070317
https://zenodo.org/record/6913673

Tanya Ní Mhuirthile, Somya Dixit, Ernesto Zelayandía González, Steph Lum, Yessica Maria Mestre Martinez, Audrey Aegerter and Amets Suess Schwend (2022)
Human Rights eBrief
https://doras.dcu.ie/27292/1/INIA%20Human%20Rights%20eBrief%2C%20final%2022.05.26%20ML.pdf

Outreach Activities

25 November 2021: V Doctoral Research Seminar in Women Studies, organised by University of Granada, PhD Programme Women Studies, Gender Discourses and Practices and Women’s and Gender Studies Institute

Presentation “Derechos humanos de las personas intersex en la Unión Europea y América Latina” (“Human rights of intersex people in the European Union and Latin America”), Granada, 25/11/2021.

https://canal.ugr.es/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/diptico2021.pdf

26 September 2022: Stakeholder Event at University of Malta, Valletta Campus

During the sixth INIA network event held at University of Malta, Valletta, INIA PIs and ESRs participated in a stakeholder conference.  This was a very successful event attended by approximately 40 people from the University of Malta and from the Maltese government. The programme for the event can be found here.

24 February 2021: Three-minute thesis competition

ESR Yessica Mestre participated in the three-minute thesis competition of the University of Granada on February 24, 2021. In total, the semifinal of the competition brought together twenty doctoral students from various departments of the University of Granada. For her presentation “the research for the 1,7%”, Yessica talked about the research objectives of her INIA project, which aims to identify human rights violations in research related to intersex issues and develop principles for a human rights-based research practice in intersex studies.

Dissemination Activities:

31 January 2024: Expanding intersex studies, Brussels, Belgium

For more information about this final INIA conference and programme: https://intersexnew.co.uk/expanding-intersex-studies/

Yessica Mestre gave a presentation titled: Research ethics in intersex studies – exploring ethical principles for a human rights-based research practice

 June 27 – 29, 2023, 29th International Conference of Europeanists, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

ESRs Audrey Aegerter, Martin Gramc and Yessica Mestre presented papers during this conference in the session Utopias and Dystopias of intersex. The programme for the event can be found here: https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CES-Final-Conference-Program-2023.pdf

4-6 April 2023, Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Ulster, Derry-Londonderry, Ireland

ESR9 Yessica Mestre participated in this conference.

See abstract book, p. 321 and 397. https://www.slsa.ac.uk/images/conferences/SLSA_2023_abstract_book.pdf

February 20-23, 2023: Centring Intersex Issues: Global and Local Dimensions

Presentation by ESR9 Yessica Mestre: “The value of ethical research for the intersex community”, online, 20/04/2023.

https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cacs/research-areas/intersex-studies/intersex-studies-conference/

20-21 October 2022: Prague School of Bioethics

The Prague School of Bioethics is a unique international event, aimed at promoting the interest of important current bioethical issues, especially among medical students and other students of health studies as well as physicians, nurses and other health care providers. More information about the school is available here: https://www.praguesb.cz/index.html

ESR7 Martin Gramc and ESR9 Yessica Mestre attended this event where they gave the following presentations:

Martin: Human Rights-based Approaches to Medical Research on Intersex People’s Issues (PART ONE)

Yessica: Human Rights-based Approaches to Medical Research on Intersex People’s Issues (PART TWO).

17 June 2022 Europubhealth+ Research Meeting 

On June 17, 2022, PI Amets Suess Schwend, ESR9 Yessica Mestre Martínez and ESR10 Ernesto Zelayandía González participated in the Europubhealth+ Research Meeting, with an online presentation titled “INIA. Intersex – New Interdisciplinary Approaches: Generating knowledge on intersex human rights and wellbeing”.

The Europubhealth+ Research Meeting was organised by the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sport Sciences, University College Dublin.

The participating institutions are:

• • EHESP French School of Public Health, University of Rennes
  • Maastricht University
  • Sheffield University, School of Health and Related Research
  • Institute of Public Health, FHS, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow
  • University of Granada/Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública
  • School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin

To view the Programme, please click here.

10 November 2021: European Public Health Conference 2021, organised by EUPHA, European Public Health Association

Presentation “Introducing intersex wellbeing and rights and the INIA programme”, together with Prof. Surya Monro, Dr. Amets Suess Schwend, Audrey Aegerter, Axel Keating and Martin Gramc, within the Workshop Intersex human rights and wellbeing – Part I: From frameworks to ethics and lived experiences, organised by the EUPHA Section Sexual and Gender Minority Health and EUPHA Section Ethics in Public Health, online, November 10, 2021.

https://eupha.org/repository/conference/2021/3023%20(iBR)%20Programme%20at%20glance2021.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.165

Presentation “Towards a human rights-based Research ethics in intersex studies: Reflections from the INIA project, together with Dr. María Isabel Tamayo Velázquez and Dr. Amets Suess Schwend, within the Workshop Intersex human rights and wellbeing – Part I: From frameworks to ethics and lived experiences, organised by the EUPHA Section Sexual and Gender Minority Health and EUPHA Section Ethics in Public Health, online, November 10, 2021.

https://eupha.org/repository/conference/2021/3023%20(iBR)%20Programme%20at%20glance2021.pdf

https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.166

22 April 2021: INIA panel at DCU online conference, Intersex 2021: A vision for the future

On April 22nd during the online conference hosted by Dublin City University, the INIA project was introduced to conference participants. The panel was composed of the coordinator, Prof. Surya Monro, Principal Investigator, Amets Suess Schwend, and ESRs Yessica Mestre, Daria Abrosimova, Adeline Berry, Axel Keating and Steph Lum. The conference booklet can be consulted here. A link to the conference can be found here.