Queer@King’s: discover research celebrating diversity at King’s

You might already know that LGBTQ+ History Month is celebrated in the UK every February. But did you know that there is an active community of researchers and academics at King’s working on queer studies all year round? Active since 2003, Queer@King’s is an interdepartmental and interdisciplinary research group, aiming to promote ideas and projects related to gender and sexuality while supporting researchers interested in queer studies. Among them is PhD candidate Liam Cini O’Dwyer, who has kindly agreed to share his work and clarify what queer research is all about. Whether you're curious about the topic or you have only just heard of it, this is your sign to keep reading to find out more.

Inspired by his own experience as a secondary school science teacher, Liam is interested in investigating the factors behind the participation and exclusion of LGBTQ+ youth in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. ‘Working as a teacher allowed me to witness issues of educational exclusion first-hand. This motivated me to look into the reasons why there is a tendency of LGBTQ+ youth not to pursue STEM-based studies, a phenomenon in academia referred to as the "leaky pipeline"’. Later on, while studying for a Master’s in STEM Education at King's, he stumbled upon a huge gap in the research, which motivated him to undertake a PhD. ‘Through learning about leadership and practices in STEM education, I came to question the social justice of STEM education itself. I realised there had been a lot of progress concerning innovations on how to promote youth participation of certain minority groups in STEM-based courses, but that similar studies on LGBTQ+ youth were severely underdeveloped’. Feeling a professional urge to remedy this and a personal desire to give back to his community, Liam decided to get to the root of the problem and research the causes of this 'tangible and damaging exclusion.'

Now, while still teaching science classes part-time, Liam works at the Queer@King’s research group and has just started to collect data for his PhD which involves liaising with various secondary schools around the country. He hopes to identify 'the specific exclusionary factors and causal mechanisms that lead to LGBTQ+ youth not pursuing science education after GCSE and picking other subjects at A-levels'. He is also a lecturer on the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course at King’s. ‘Being part of the PGCE programme has been an empowering opportunity given the nature of my work. The research conducted so far clearly shows how crucial the role of teachers can be in fostering welcoming learning environments where everyone feels safe and has a sense of belonging’.

Liam shares that his professional journey has not always been easy. ‘Unfortunately, researchers working on queer studies can be faced with many obstacles. It is undeniable that there has been a change in the political and social climate involving queer research and activism. Sometimes this means that people are a bit more wary of actively participating in projects like mine’.

However, the passion for his topic of research and the awareness of its importance are what keeps Liam going. Queer studies is an expanding and important body of work, which must be promoted to foster academic and social change. ‘When I was growing up, we were living under Section 28 – a law banning educators from talking about the LGBTQ+ community. Nowadays young people can rely on more tools, including social media, to connect with each other and feel part of a community. However, this can leave them very isolated in the real world if they do not also have access to real-life socially inclusive spaces where they can be themselves. My purpose is to promote the idea that a science classroom can be such a space and that science and queerness are not mutually exclusive’.