ESRC Impact Accelerator Account

The overall aim of this project is to enable organisations to better understand how they can be more inclusive, particularly around gender diversity, and to help them put in place policies and practices that make a difference. To do this, we will create a community of practice around transgender and non-binary inclusion at work which brings together a range of subject matter experts, diversity and inclusion/HR practitioners, and organisations/employers to share knowledge, develop ideas for future research and practical initiatives, and to create an action plan for collaboration and impact. Our core objectives are:

1) To bring together at least 12 non-academic stakeholders and 4 academic experts
2) To conduct two online workshops; the first is to exchange knowledge and discuss initial ideas:
the second is to plan for future collaboration and impact
3) To agree an action plan for a future larger scale collaborative project by July 2024
4) To identify opportunities for future funding and impact generation for point 3

This project is important and timely because transgender and non-binary workers are experiencing particularly high levels of workplace conflict and harassment as well as facing broader issues around increasing levels of transphobic hate crimes, degrading media stories, and politicised debates about their existence 1 . Legally, transgender and non-binary inclusion is a progressively complicated area to navigate, with increasing frictions and tensions related to how the UK Equality Act (2010) should be interpreted and applied 2 . Therefore, there is a need to help organisations and people working in this space (such as diversity and inclusion/HR practitioners) navigate through this complexity and to develop/implement policies and practices that are best placed to make a positive difference to the working lives of not just transgender and non-binary people but also to a wider range of minority groups. Whilst not directly linked to a specific ESRC-funded project, it does meet the ESRC management, business studies, and social policy remits as well as strategic priorities around ‘working lives’ and ‘creating opportunities, improving outcomes’.

The project is directly linked to Dr Luke Fletcher’s (and Dr Rosa Marvell’s) research specifically around transgender and non-binary inclusion in the workplace as well as wider engagement and impact in this area.