There is a great deal of interesting and important research on LGBT communities being carried out at the moment, much of this research relies on LGBT people getting involved and sharing their experiences. If you are LGBT and would like to have your voice heard by participating in ongoing research see below for projects you can get involved in.

Have your say in shaping the future of assisted conception and fertility treatment services across Greater Manchester

People in Greater Manchester are being asked to share their experiences and views about assisted conception and fertility treatment services to help shape the future of the service. Commissioners across Greater Manchester want to hear your views: what works well now and what needs to be improved?

What do we mean by assisted conception and fertility treatment?

Assisted conception is a collective name for treatments designed to lead to conception by means other than sexual intercourse.

If you or a family member have experienced fertility problems or are currently undergoing treatment or may need to access a fertility treatment service in the future, we want to hear from you. Find out more here

Ethnic and Sexual Minority Health Project

Are you aged 18-28 and live in the UK? Do you identify as LGBTQ+ and belong to an ethnic minority group? We’d love to talk to you!

We’re a research project based at University College London looking at health, wellbeing and identity in ethnic minority LGBTQ+ young people.

Please get in touch if you:

• are aged 18-28 years and;
• are resident in the UK and;
• identify as LGBTQ+ and;
• identify as belonging to an ethnic minority group

What’s involved?

• One online video interview of about 1.5 hours.
• For taking part, you will be compensated with a £40 voucher

To participate or for more information, please contact us at [email protected] or at @LGBT_EM_study on Twitter or @lgbt_bame_health_study on Instagram

Difficulties in male same-sex relationships

This PhD study is exploring ‘difficulties in male same-sex’ relationships and help-seeking behaviour. Research in this area which focuses entirely on sexual minority men has received little attention generally, even less so in the UK. The results from this research will help to gain a better understanding of the difficulties sexual minority men have faced in their relationships, as well as, aiding government organisations and support services to improve their service provision for sexual minority men.

You are welcome to take part if:

• You are male
• Over 18
• Live in the UK
• Have been in male same-sex relationships in the past

Participation involves filling out the survey which should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. There will also be the option to conduct a follow-up interview (if you wish).

https://northumbria.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/malesamesexrelationshipsurvey

Any questions please contact: Rachael Giles-Haigh, Northumbria University

[email protected]

Exploring the Variable Effects of Social Media Use on Mental Health Outcomes, Including Minority Stress

This study is part of a Masters project, seeking to better understand the relationship between social media use and mental health, particularly among LGBTQ+ individuals. It is being conducted by Tamsin Mahalingham a Masters of Research Psychology student at Curtin University under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Clarke.

Participation involves taking part in a data collection session via videoconference. The session will take approximately 40 minutes. During the session you will complete a questionnaire survey, we will then ask you to capture and share screenshots of social media use data which is automatically recorded by your phone, before asking you to complete a short attention task. At the conclusion of the session, you will be invited to participate in an optional follow up session to repeat the same tasks one week later.

To find out more details or arrange a time to participate contact Tamsin Mahalingham:[email protected]

Exploring the intersection between bisexuality, dementia and adult social care

You are being invited to take part in a study called ‘Exploring the intersection between bisexuality and dementia in adult social care’. The aim of this study is to understand the experiences of bisexual people with dementia and make adult social care services more inclusive to them.

Social care is practical help and support you receive because of your illness, disability, or age. This help and support can include accommodation, help at home, day centres and counselling, etc.

Anyone who identifies as having dementia and being bisexual/ a person attracted to people of all genders is welcome to take part.

This study may help social care services better support bisexual people with dementia. This study will be a safe and confidential space to talk about your concerns and opinions. You will receive a £30 shopping voucher for taking part.

If you would like to take part or need more information please contact Kitty via email at [email protected] or call 07854389924.

LGBT+ Public Transport Experience Survey

Lindsey and Richard are transport planners who work for engineering and design consultants, Atkins. We are currently writing an independent research paper about LGBT+ experiences of public transport and how we can deliver more inclusive transport systems.

From our initial findings, we suspect that the LGBT+ community may be deterred from using public transport due to fears about their personal safety. There is also evidence to suggest that hate crimes against the LGBT+ community are increasing across British transport networks, but that also many hate crimes go unreported. However, there is very little research on how the LGBT+ community feel towards using public transport and how safe they consider it to be.

We’ve created an anonymous survey to gain some insight into people’s perceptions and experience of public transport, and how they identify in terms of gender and sexuality. We are really excited to get some much needed data on a broad spectrum of LGBT+ individuals and hope the data will provide evidence and opportunities that define how we can plan inclusive transport systems in the future and ensure that transport is inclusive for all.

Respond to the survey here: https://forms.office.com/r/KrbHL7hJPJ

The results from the survey will be combined with feedback from stakeholder interviews we are undertaking with LGBT+ groups and transport operators, as well as desktop research we have undertaken. The research report will be available later in the year and we are planning to share the findings with the transport industry and use them as a call to action to improve public transport. Our research abstract has also been accepted by two transport planning conferences and we plan to present our results at these later in the year.

Exploring gay men’s experiences of social support, relationships and difficult emotions

We are running research to learn more about gay men’s experiences of relationships, community and social support. We want to understand how these experiences may influence difficult emotions and beliefs. We hope that this research will help mental health services to better understand and support gay men.

If you are aged between 18-35 years old, identify as male and gay, speak English fluently, and you have experienced difficult thoughts or emotions (e.g. loneliness, low mood, anxiety) in the last six months, you may be eligible to take part.

If you would like to participate in this research, you would be invited to take part in an interview with Emmeline Joyce (principal researcher) over Zoom/telephone. You would be asked about your experiences of difficult emotions, and of social support, relationships and community, and how these have made you feel about yourself and others. You will receive compensation for your time.

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Emmeline on 07783 303648 or [email protected]. Emmeline will be very happy to discuss the research with you and answer any questions. You can also find us on Twitter: @socsupportstudy.

Supporting access to sexual healthcare and consultations: A research study

Researchers at Aston University, University of Wolverhampton and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust are conducting a study about why people attend or do not attend sexual health consultations and clinic appointments. They would like to find out about your views of what makes it easy or difficult to access or attend appointments and/or telephone consultations, as well as your views on how we could improve access to these services.

As someone who has received healthcare from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust through the Umbrella clinic or another sexual health clinic; someone who may do so in the future; or someone who wishes take part in research to help improve access to sexual health services, I am writing to ask if you would be willing to take part in this study. This would involve you answering some questions by telephone or video call (e.g. Skype, Zoom, FaceTime) or online survey, at a time that is convenient for you.

You will receive a £10 voucher for taking part.

The findings of the study will be written up as a report for the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust and may also be published in scientific journals. I enclose an information sheet with more details. Please note that the research team do not have access to any of your personal details or any information about your consultation, if you have had one. Participation in this study is voluntary and will in no way affect the care you receive. All information gathered will be anonymised, meaning that no one will know it was you that took part.

If you are interested in taking part or would like more information about the study, please contact one of the research team directly:

Research team:

• Rebecca Clarke (Research Assistant) Email: [email protected]
• Dr Gemma Heath, University of Wolverhampton: [email protected]Tel: 01902 32 2362
• Professor Claire Farrow, Aston University: [email protected] Tel: 0121 204 5384

Understanding the paradigm shift of stereotyping and conformity of homosexuality in a UK population: A mixed methods exploration

Despite increasing tolerance in the UK there is still a belief that gay men and lesbian women possess gender inverted characteristics (Reyna et al., 2014; Smith, 2011). However, more recently it is noted that our current climate is far more accepting, and public attitudes toward homosexuals are quickly shifting to reflect greater tolerance, with younger generations leading the way (Smith, 2011). This study will aim to explore stereotyping of LGBTQ+ people.

I am recruiting people over the age of 18 and UK based to take part in the first study of my PhD. To take part please follow the link: https://blss.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3rZQVtVK

Experiences of older LGB people using community based social care services, groups and activities

Do you access community based groups, services or organisations? Are you 50+ and identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual? Or do you work or volunteer in community based groups or services? Would you like to take part in some research looking at how inclusive (or not) community based social care is for older lesbian, gay & bisexual people? Understanding experiences of attending or working in groups or services using interviews and focus groups will help guide inclusion going forward. Groups might include day services, hobby, social or interest groups. These do not need to be LGBTQ+ or older people specific.

If you are interested in taking part, check out the information sheets (Older LGB: https://tinyurl.com/2ketspua, Staff/Volunteers: https://tinyurl.com/x7vc7hc7 ) and get in touch. Currently all interviews are carried out online/telephone. My email address is [email protected]

Balancing religious freedoms, sexual orientation rights and trans gender identity protections in the provision of health and social care to older lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or trans people in the United Kingdom (UK).

This project aims to aims to conduct a scoping study to understand the key issues in relation to how religious freedoms, sexual orientation and gender identity rights are navigated in older age care spaces.

You can find more information about the research on the project website here.

The project is carrying out two surveys:

The survey for older LGBT+ people, their friends/families/advocates and/or people working for organisations advocating on behalf of older LGBT+ people can be found here.

The survey for care providers (care workers, managers, professionals working with older people in health/social care) can be found here.

LGBTQ+ community perceptions of domestic abuse, responsivity and inclusion within the Criminal Justice System

The research is being conducted by an MSc Forensic Psychology student at Manchester Metropolitan University. The research focuses on the perceptions held by the LGBTQ+ community on domestic abuse and how responsive and inclusive the criminal justice system are when working with people who identify as LGBTQ+.

This study evaluation will require you to take part in a 1:1 discussion on Microsoft Teams with the researcher. The discussion will focus on your perceptions of domestic abuse and how responsive and inclusive you think the criminal justice system is for individuals within the LGBTQ+ community. You are not expected to have personal experiences of domestic abuse to participate in the research and if you have you will not be asked to discuss this within the study. It is expected that this will last around 45-60 minutes. To take-part in this study participants must be UK residents, aged 18+. This study contains sensitive material regarding the topic of domestic abuse. If you are likely to find this distressing it is advised you do not participate.

Findings from this study will contribute to future developments and improvement of services for LGBTQ+ domestic abuse alongside developments in training for staff within the criminal justice system to ensure they are inclusive and responsive to the needs of the LGBTQ+ community. This study has been reviewed and approved by the ethics committee at Manchester Metropolitan University.

If you would like further information or have any questions please contact Samantha Wellock, [email protected]

PhD Study Exploring Image Based Sexual Abuse Within the LGBTQ Community

Researchers at the University of Birmingham invite you to take part in a PhD study that relates to the impact of Image Based Sexual Abuse on the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ individuals.

The study evaluation will require you to take part in a discussion with Ronnie who is one of the researchers. You will talk in private about your experiences of any impact that Image Based Sexual Abuse has had upon your mental health and well-being. We expect that it may last about 45-60 minutes.

The study link can be found at https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/nursing/research/image-based-sexual-abuse-and-the-impact-this-has-on-the-well-being-of-lgbtq-individuals.aspx

The team will be pleased to answer any questions you may have about this evaluation. Email: [email protected]

Please note that unless otherwise stated, the research listed here is being carried out by organisations external to LGBT Foundation. While we have made every effort to ensure that this research is being carried out in line with our ethical research guidelines, we cannot take direct responsibility for these projects and cannot guarantee the subsequent publication of the research that we are promoting below. Any queries related to these research opportunities should be directed to the relevant university or organisation.