INIA researchers have not only engaged in public outreach activities but have also participated in national and international conferences. Information about their participation in these events can be found below:
16th ESA conference 2024: “Tension, Trust and Transformation” Porto, Portugal, August 27-30 2024
Surya Monro presented key findings from the project on behalf of the INIA team as follows: Title: ‘Intersex people and transformative research agendas: Findings from the Intersex – New Interdisciplinary Approaches (INIA) Research programme’ The presentation was well-received with plenty of interest in the project. For more information about the conference: https://www.europeansociology.org/conference/2024
July 17 – 19, 2024: VI Congreso Internacional sobre Estudios de Diversidad Sexual en Iberoamérica: Deseos, espacios e identidades (6th International Conference on Sexual Diversity Studies in Iberoamerica: Desires, spaces and identities)
PI Amets Suess Schwend participated as a speaker and symposium coordinator in the VI Congreso Internacional sobre Estudios de Diversidad Sexual en Iberoamérica: Deseos, espacios e identidades (6th International Conference on Sexual Diversity Studies in Iberoamerica: Desires, spaces and identities) held on July 17 – 19, 2024 at the University of Girona. They coordinated the symposium “’Ser une más’: reflexiones epistemológicas y metodológicas sobre prácticas de investigación en el campo de las diversidades y disidencias sexuales, corporales y de género” (“‘Being one more’: epistemological and methodological reflections about research practices in the field o sexual, gender and bodily diversities and dissidences”), and gave a presentation titled “Justicia epistémica y reflexividad: el rol de las personas aliadas en los estudios intersex” (“Epistemic justice and reflexivity: the role of allies in intersex studies”), with references to the INIA project.
For more information about the programme: https://esdeveniments.udg.edu/97226/programme/congreso-internacional-sobre-estudios-de-diversidad-sexual-en-iberoamerica-deseos-espacios-e-identi.html
July 1-3, 2024: II Congreso Internacional de Antropología Feminista (2nd International Feminist Anthropology Conference)
PI Amets Suess Schwend participated as a speaker, panel moderator and member of the organisation team in the II Congreso Internacional de Antropología Social “En la calle y en la academia. Imaginando presentes en común” (2nd International Feminist Anthropology Conference “In the street and in the academy. Imagining presents in common”), held on July 1-3, 2024 at the University of Granada, Granada, Spain. They gave a presentation titled “¿Epistemologías disidentes?: reflexiones desde los estudios y activismos intersex” (“Dissident epistemologies: reflections from intersex studies and activisms”), with reference to the INIA project.
For more information about the programme: https://sej430.ugr.es/sites/grupos/sej430/public/inline-files/ProgramaCongreso_V3.pdf
June 12-14, 2024: G- Versity: Gender Diversity Across Europe – Devising Solutions from Interdisciplinary & Intersectoral Perspectives, Bern, Switzerland
Several INIA members were very pleased to be part of a panel about intersex issues at the GVersity Final conference in Bern. This opportunity allowed us to network with members of the GVersity network (see conference – G-Versity (gversity-2020.eu) and another related network, the INSPIRE network which supports gender equality in research and innovation (see Home | INSPIRE project (inspirequality.eu). We had many interesting exchanges. INIA presentations included:
Adeline Berry: Heterosexual Intersex Men and Hegemonic Masculine Society
Martin Gramc, Daria Abrosimova, Juerg Streuli, John Stephenson, Surya Monro: Approaches to Care for Intersex Minors in Europe
Surya Monro, Sean Saifa Wall, Kate Wood: Intersex Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and Social Policy: A Case Study of England and Ireland
The conference program can be consulted here.
January 31-February 1, 2024 Expanding intersex studies conference, Brussels, Belgium
For more information about this final INIA conference and programme: https://intersexnew.co.uk/expanding-intersex-studies/
ESR2 Sean Saifa Wall with Surya Monro and Kate Wood: Intersex equality, diversity and inclusion and social policy: Silences, absences, and erasures in Ireland and the UK
ESR3 Audrey Aegerter: Identity negotiation: Intersex, DSD, and navigating terminological risks
ESR4 Somya Dixit: Intersex Peoples’ Human Rights and Medical Realities: Exploring Lived Experiences in Ireland and Malta
ESR3 Audrey Aegerter and ESR7 Martin Gramc: Presenting the main results of the INIA project
ESR9 Yessica Mestre: Research ethics in intersex studies – exploring ethical principles for a human rights-based research practice
September 14, 2023: British Sociological Association Conference
On September 14th, Martin Gramc and John Stephenson gave the presentation “A shift towards the social? Intersex minors and psychosocial care in Europe” at the British Sociological Association conference (https://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/key-bsa-events/bsa-medical-sociology-conference-2023-sussex/). The presentation took place at the University of Sussex in Brighton and the talk was attended by approximately ten people.
August 29-September 1, 2023: European Identity Summer School
Martin Gramc participated in the Summer School – Identity of Europe at the Inter-University Centre in Dubrovnik (https://iuc.hr/programme/992). On Friday, September 1st, Martin helped with the presentation “The Genealogy of Intersex and the Cultural Wars.” Around 10 people atteeded the session and discussed his work.
August 23-26, 2023: 35th ESPMH Conference
Martin Gramc took part in the 35th Conference on Philosophy of Medicine and Healthcare which was held in Riga, Latvia from 23rd – 26th of August. Martin gave a presentation on the 24th of August called Boundary Work in the Health Care for people with variations of sex characteristics in Europe. Approximately 10 people attended the presentation and attended a discussion with Martin. More information about the conference is available here: https://www.espmh.org/upcoming-conferences/
July 5-7, 2023 3e Congrès international sur les études de genre, Toulouse, France
ESR Audrey Aegerter participated in the Congrès Genre at the University of Toulouse where she presented her research on a panel on intersex with Gaëlle Larrieu and Loé Petit. Cynthia Kraus was the chair of the panel.
June 27 – 29, 2023, Council for European Studies, 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
The Dis-Utopia of Medical Care For Intersex People
Single Paper
Martin Gramc – University of Zürich
Living Dystopia: Political Subjectification and Engagement of Intersex People in Europe
Single Paper
Audrey Alessandra Pascale Aegerter
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Without Access to Justice: The Utopia of Reparation in the Lives of Intersex People
Single Paper
Yessica Mestre – Andalusian School of Public Health
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
The INIA project led to the development of a large consortium who together organised an international online conference titled Centring Intersex Issues: Global and Local Dimensions (20-23 February 2023, led by University of Huddersfield. This intervention was in addition to the commitments made in the INIA GA and provided substantial added value. The conference was established to facilitate the ongoing development of an international network of scholars, students, and stakeholders with an interest in supporting intersex people’s equality, wellbeing, and social and economic success.
The organising group included the PI, Co-Is Tanya Ni Mhuirthile and Amets Seuss Schwend, and colleagues who had previously contributed to INIA training events such as Mitch Travis (University of Manchester) and Fae Garland (University of Leeds). Importantly, Addy Berry (ESR1) was a co-organiser, gaining experience in conference organisation. It was a truly international event, running for 24 hours almost continuously for 3 ½ days, with a mixture of keynotes, paper presentations (over 30), panels (including a panel specifically showcasing the INIA project and our early findings), a book launch, and networking sessions.
Whilst a considerable amount of research has taken place about intersex issues, much of this is located in the global north. The conference took an international approach, foregrounding voices from the global south as well as the north. It brought in dimensions associated with postcoloniality, both in interrogating the historical construction of intersex and its medicalisation in the global north, and in addressing issues concerning intersex and variations of sex characteristics in the global south. In this way, it aimed to shift the field of intersex studies forwards, whilst also complementing existing activist and scholarly networks that are international and/or based in the global south.
INIA ESRs and PIs were well represented at this conference not only in the organising committee, but also in the chairing and monitoring of chat sessions. Presentations by the INIA team included:
ESR9 Yessica Mestre: “The value of ethical research for the intersex community”, online, 20/02/2023.
Amets Suess Schwend, Intersex epistemologies? Reviewing relevant oerspectives in intersex studies, online 20/02/2023
INIA Panel with Daria Abrosimoa, Audrey Aegerter, Addy Berry, Martin Gramc, Yessica Mestre, Surya Monro and Amets Suess Schwend, online 21/02/2023
Surya Monro and Daniela Crocetti, Towards a materialist analysis of DSD and Intersex healthcare, online 22/02/2023
26 January 2023: Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People conference
On 26 January 2023 a number of INIA colleagues spoke at the Advancing the Human Rights of Intersex People conference’ that took place in Strasbourg and online. This conference, organised by the SOGI Unit in Co-operation with the Permanent Representation of Iceland to the Council of Europe, was an important opportunity for us to present findings from the INIA project and to hear from key stakeholders. Sean Saifa Wall spoke together with Surya Monro on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion frameworks and policy making, whilst Ernesto Zelayandia presented on Intersex people’s access to justice and reparations, and Tanya Ni Mhuirthile gave a talk on preventing and combatting discrimination and stigmatisation on sex characteristics.
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
The program is available here: https://www.praguesb.cz/program.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).
21 September 2022: PSI International Panel Presentation
The panel “looks into the role that psychology has or can have in the policymaking process”. Co-presented with Rebecca Crowther at Equality Network. The title of the presentation was, “How can psychology and psychosocial wellbeing be informed by social policy and care that is developing to be inclusive and cognisant of I/VSC people and their experiences?”
https://www.psiinternational.net/events/45b140eb-75f3-47cb-8a97-f4156f3ad9ac
19 July 2022: World Congress on Bioethics – Feminist Approaches, Basel, Switzerland
ESR7 Martin Gramc gave a presentation with ESR6 Daria Abrosimova entitled “Does medicine know that gender exists?” More information about the conference is available here: https://www.fabnet.org/world-congress
ESR6 Daria Abrosimova presented: Do as I say, not as I do.
Scope review of the literature on psychosocial support for families with an intersex child
The conference program is available here: https://organizers-congress.org/frontend/index.php?page_id=7871&v=TimeTable&do=0&day=310
6-8 July 2022: European Conference on Politics and Gender, University of Ljubljana
ESR3 Audrey Aegerter and ESR7 Martin Gramc gave presentations at ECPG (https://ecpr.eu/Events/157) on Wednesday 6th of July from 11 to 12:30. PI David Paternotte was the chair of the panel and Cynthia Kraus (UNIL) was the discussant. The event was open to academics (PhDs, postdocs, professors etc…) working on topics of Gender and Politics.
Audrey’s presentation was entitled: From the I to the we : the development of an intersex political subjectivity
Martin’s presentation was entitled Gender as Projection: The Politics of Decision Making in Multidisciplinary Teams in Intersex Care.
The panel’s title was: Intersex Politics in Europe: Activism, the State, and Medical Authority. It was part of the section: Executive Power, Legal Negotiations and the Politics of Trans and Queer Lives. Information about the panel can be found here: https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/PanelDetails/11465.
24 June 2022: COST summer school and conference on LGBTI+ Methodologies
Surya Monro presented an invited lecture titled Transgender: Old thoughts and new directions’ at the COST Summer School and Conference on LGBTI+ Methodologies (24-30 June 2022, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK). This talk included information about transgender intersex people, who are often overlooked in both intersex studies and LGBT studies. The talk was very well received by an audience of about 40 international academics, postgraduates, and early career researchers.
June 17-18, 2022: The Kleinfelter Syndrome Association annual AGM and conference
April 6-8, 2022: SLSA Conference
ESR10 Ernesto Zelayandía González (EASP) participated in the SLSA Conference, organised by the Socio-Legal Studies Association and held at the University of York with a presentation titled “Invisible no more? The growing visibility of intersex issues at the United Nations”. https://slsa2022.co.uk/site/
The full conference programme can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KJ3C15-V0gxemWmmSu8pT6O2pIswXLDC/view
A copy of the abstract is available here.
November 10-12, 2021: INIA Presentations at the European Public Health Conference
At the European Public Health Conference 2021, held online on November 10-12, 2021, the EUPHA Section Sexual and Gender Minority Health and the EUPHA Section Ethics in Public Health organised two workshops about Intersex Human Rights and Wellbeing, following a proposal contributed by Amets Suess Schwend and with help from INIA colleagues. The chairs were Arjan van der Star and Amets Suess Schwend. The first workshop focused on frameworks, ethics and lived experiences, including two INIA presentations, and the second one on healthcare approaches and policies. Our presentations were part of a larger collaboration with other scholars working in this field, across Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Israel and Switzerland. We had two interesting and useful workshops and the presentations were well-received.
Workshop I:
Organised by: EUPHA-SGMH, EUPHA-ETH, Chair persons: Arjan van der Star (EUPHA-SGMH), Els Maeckelberghe (EUPHA-ETH), 2.Q. Workshop: Intersex human rights and wellbeing – Part I: From frameworks to ethics and lived experiences, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 31, Issue Supplement_3, October 2021, ckab164.163, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.163
INIA Presentations:
S Monro, A Suess Schwend, A Aegerter, A Keating, Y Mestre, M Gramc, Introducing intersex wellbeing and rights and the INIA programme, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 31, Issue Supplement_3, October 2021, ckab164.165, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.165
Y Mestre Martínez, MI Tamayo Velázquez, A Suess Schwend, Towards a human rights-based research ethics in intersex studies: Reflections from the INIA project, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 31, Issue Supplement_3, October 2021, ckab164.166, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.166
Workshop II:
Organised by: EUPHA-SGMH, EUPHA-ETH, Chair persons: Els Maeckelberghe (EUPHA-ETH), Amets Suess Schwend (Spain), 4.Q. Workshop: Intersex human rights and wellbeing – Part II: From ethics to healthcare approaches and policies, European Journal of Public Health, Volume 31, Issue Supplement_3, October 2021, ckab164.315, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckab164.315
29 September 2021: INIA presentation at Europsi
INIA members Daria Abrosimova, Martin Gramc, Surya Monro and Amets Schwend presented an overview of the INIA project and early findings from projects 6 and 7 and at the Psychosocial Studies Intersex – International (PSI-I): Launch Event on 29 September 2021. PSI International is a professional network focused on promoting psychological well-being in individuals with variations in sex characteristics. A screenshot from the presentation can be viewed here.
9-11 September 2021, EACME Conference
3 September 2021: INIA presentations at the European Sociological Association Conference in Barcelona, Spain
ESRs Adeline Berry (University of Huddersfield) and Svet Sol (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) gave very well attended presentations at the ESA 2021 online conference. Addy’s presentation was part of the RN01_T04_01: Ageism and discrimination session and Svet’s presentation was part of the RN23_T07_01: Health, Sexuality and Medical Practices session. A programme for the event can be found here: https://www.europeansociology.org/about-esa-2021-barcelona-online/programme
28 August 2021: Session at the Association of Human Rights Institutes Online Conference 2021
On Saturday, August 28th during the online Association of Human Rights Institutes conference hosted by The Maastricht Centre for Human Rights, ESR10, Ernesto Zelayandia-Gonzalez presented the preliminary findings of his working paper “Framing Intersex Rights. A Scoping review.” A Programme for the conference can be found here.
August 2021: RéFri summer school
RéFri (the French-speaking research network on intersex) organised an online summer school in August 2021 in which ESR3 Audrey Aegerter was heavily involved in the organisation and in giving a presentation. ESR2 Sean Saifa Wall and ESR9 Yessica Mestre also participated in the event. A programme for the event can be found here.
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 Abrosimvoa, Adeline Berry, Axel Keating and Steph Lum. The conference booklet can be consulted here. A link to the conference can be found here.
21 April 2021: Session at DCU online conference, Intersex 2021: A vision for the future
On April 21st, PI Amets Suess Schwend from Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública gave a presentation entitled “Reflexivity in intersex studies: Developing principles for human rights-based research practices and ethics” during the session “Intersex Rights.” They also chaired the session “Brújula Intersexual: a multidisciplinary perspective and multitasking project.” The conference booklet can be consulted here. A link to the conference can be found here.