In November 2022, a series of events was organised by STEM Schools across the University of Loughborough in the week leading up to the International Day of LGBTQIA+ people in STEM. The theme of the week was ‘Educate, Celebrate and Support’, and was aimed at staff and students who identify as LGBT+ or are allies.

Within the events series, a group of researchers from the Water-WISER CDT hosted a workshop entitled ‘Safeguarding Queer Identities in Research’. Georgia Hales, Hannah Robinson and Zhe Zhan (CDT-aligned student at Leeds) talked about the relevance of LGBT+ identities within research undertaken across the CDT. They cited examples from their own experience and research and covered topics including inclusive terminology in public health policy relating to gender, how gender affects access to, and use of, water and sanitation services, and collecting data from LGBT+ participants. They also looked at issues of safeguarding for LGBT+ researchers conducting fieldwork.