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Championing LGBTQ+ Inclusion

By UCL Faculty of Arts & Humanities, on 28 September 2022

Photo of Mie Jensen

Mie Astrup Jensen (PhD Candidate in Gender & Sexuality Studies and Hebrew & Jewish Studies) was shortlisted for the Championing LGBTQ+ Inclusion UCL 2022 Inclusion Award. Mie was nominated for her work on Queer Pedagogy and departmental initiatives on LGBTQ+ inclusion. Mie shares with us her journey in developing inclusive classrooms and learning.

My EDI work focuses on pedagogical conversations, training, and changes. I’m very interested in classroom pedagogy, learning material, and inclusive language, which is evident in my projects.

I am Dr Cathy Elliott’s research assistant on a small-grants funded project on queer pedagogy. I have done extensive research on queer pedagogy, and conducted, transcribed, and analysed 25 qualitative interviews with students in Arts and Social Sciences on queer pedagogy and gender and sexuality inclusion in higher education. The interviews covered teaching and engagement with gender and sexuality topics, learning experiences, campus experiences, and support for students.

It was clear that Arts & Social Science departments approach gender and sexuality differently, which had led to very different learning experiences. Many students noted that much can be done to make their educational experiences more trans and non-binary inclusive, and that their engagement with sexuality has tended to focus on heterosexual and homosexual identities rather than being attentive to bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and demisexual identities. Nevertheless, and importantly, the majority of students feel safe to express their gender identity and sexual identity at UCL.

The project brings forth numerous recommendations for improving educational experiences. As a result, UCL’s Arena has requested to use the findings for staff training. This includes discussing ways to incorporate more gender and sexuality material into the learning material, ways to make material more inclusive and representative, and equipping staff with resources so that they sufficiently support LGBTQ+ students. Cathy and I will publish our report to UCL, and are writing an academic article on queer pedagogy too.

As a member of SELCS-CMII’s EDI committee and HJS’s Athena Swan/EDI Committee, I have worked on HJS’s Athena Swan application, and organised and facilitated, with the assistance of an EDI grant, a seminar series for students, staff, and the public with international experts discussing gender, sexuality, and Jewishness. I have conducted an EDI review of the MA Gender, Society, and Representation programme, which I am a PGTA on, with Dr Alex Hyde, and have consulted on multiple LGBTQ+ Inclusion initiatives.

If you are interested in finding out more about the exciting projects Mie is working on, please contact Mie on mie.jensen.20@ucl.ac.uk