Dear colleagues of the Nordic Network for LGBTQ+ Research on Health and Living Conditions,
We are delighted to invite you to save the date for our upcoming network meeting and conference, to be held at Tampere University, Finland, on 8–9 October 2026.
Theme: Creating New Spaces
This meeting invites us to think together about how we create and sustain new spaces for collaborations, research ideas, theoretical development and public engagement. At a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under threat across the world and with hard-won legal protections being rolled back, the work of this network feels more urgent than ever. Research communities can themselves be spaces of hope where knowledge is broadened collectively and connections are built and cultivated across borders and disciplines. This meeting is an opportunity for both established and early-career researchers to share ideas, present their work, forge new partnerships, and collectively reflect on how Nordic LGBTQ+ health and welfare research can make a difference.
Full details including the call for papers, programme, and registration will be circulated later this spring. In the meantime, please hold the dates and share this invitation widely with colleagues who may be interested. If you have suggestions for keynotes, let us know.
We look forward to meeting you in Tampere!
Warm regards,
The Organizing Group,
Kiin Catrine Andersson (Malmö University), Venla Koivuluhta (Tampere University), Valtteri Vähä-Savo (Tampere University), Ilo Söderström (Tampere University), Joa Hiitola (Tampere University), Emilia Brusila (University of Lapland), Ylva Odenbring (University of Gothenburg), Thomas Wimark (Uppsala University), Madeleine Eriksson Kirsch (Stockholm University), Mats Christiansen (Uppsala University), Amanda Klysing (Lund University)
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Kiin Catrine Andersson
Docent i socialt arbete
Institutionen för socialt arbete, Malmö universitet
Hälsa och samhälle, 205 06 Malmö
Tfn: 040-665 85 77
Dear all,
Please see attached Call for Papers: Journal of Lesbian Studies
Nordic Queer Identities and Movements: Coalitions, Ruptures and Repairs
Editors
Kiin Catrine Andersson, Malmö University and Amanda Klysing, Lund University
Hoping for many contributions from the network!
Amanda and Kiin
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Kiin Catrine Andersson
Docent i socialt arbete
Institutionen för socialt arbete, Malmö universitet
Hälsa och samhälle, 205 06 Malmö
Tfn: 040-665 85 77
Dear all,
I would like to share a recent publication. The article is entitled “I couldn’t Even Be in the Corridors During Breaks Because I Didn’t Feel Safe”: LGBTQ+ Students’ Experiences of (Un)Safe Spaces in Secondary Schools and is published in NORA: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08038740.2025.2607566
All the very best,
Ylva
Ylva Odenbring
Professor of Education (PhD)
UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG
Department of Education and Special Education
Visiting address: Västra Hamngatan 25
PO Box 100, SE-405 30 Gothenburg
Phone +46 317862840
Cell +46 766182840
Principal investigator, PI: Mental health issues and victimization among LGBTQI-youth<https://www.gu.se/en/research/mental-health-issues-and-victimization-among-…>
Selection of recent publications:
Görlich, A., Odenbring, Y., Sorbring, E. & Sørensen, N U. (2026). “I couldn't even be in the corridors during breaks because I didn't feel safe”: LGBTQ+ students’ experiences of (un)safe spaces in secondary schools, NORA. https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2025.2607566
Odenbring, Y. (2025). Skolans frontlinjepersonal: en omvärldsspaning av arbetsplatsvåld i den svenska skolan. Socialmedicinsk tidskrift. https://doi.org/10.62607/smt.v102i4-5.56185
Odenbring, Y. (2025). Uppväxtvillkor och matfattigdom: Skollunchens betydelse för en likvärdig skola. Socialmedicinsk tidskrift. https://doi.org/10.62607/smt.v102i3.59415
Odenbring, Y. & Lindén, L. (2025). Reaching everyone: school nurses’ experiences of including refugee and migrant students in the extended school-based HPV vaccination programme in Sweden. Journal of Research in Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1177/17449871251329001
Dear all,
And thank you to all of you who came to Malmö and made it such an interesting and fun two days! I heard from several people that the vibes were so good - love that!
Below I include notes from the network meeting which we held on the last day which concern among other things publication plans and other plans for the future.
I will soon also send out invitations for the mentioned meetings!
Please let me know if you have any suggestions for network activities or questions, and I hope to see you on Zoom!
Kiin
Notes from Network meeting with LGBTQ+-H-L network
Malmö Nov 25th, 2025
Information
We started off with some good news about research funding for network members Ylva Moberg, Charlotta Carlström and Michael Nebeling Petersen! Congratulations!
Next, Jukka Lehtonen told us a little bit about a two-day conference Enhancing Nordic collaboration on public data gathering on LGBTI+ people in Nordic countries, that the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) och Nordic Council of Ministers arranged during the fall. There will be a report published eventually and Jukka will send it out on the email list.
Email list
We discussed using the email list more actively to share new publications, conferences and calls – Kiin will send out a reminder about this and an invitation to share recent publications!
If we manage to use it more we can consider making a basic newsletter to gather information, but right now we don’t need that.
Publications
There is currently work being done to initiate an edited book on LGBTQ+ youth and professionals related to school environments of different kinds – contact Lee Hildebrand and Jack Lukkerz if you want more information about this: lee.a.hildebrand(a)gmail.com<mailto:lee.a.hildebrand@gmail.com>; jack.lukkerz(a)mau.se<mailto:jack.lukkerz@mau.se>
Considering the theme of this network meeting it might be interesting for one of us to guest edit a Special Collection for International Journal of Qualitative Methods, there is a call on that out.
Ella Ben Hagai highlighted that the Journal of Lesbian Studies was interested in a special issue on Nordic queer culture in some way. Kiin Catrine Andersson and Amanda Klysing will work on a proposal for a call and see where that takes us.
Róisín Ryan Flood is editor for Sexualities and that they are always interested in suggestions for special issues.
Thomas Wimark also mentioned that the journal of Gender, Place & Culture were interested in manuscripts using quantitative methods, relating to place in some way – very broadly.
Plans for the spring
We agreed that we want to continue with the joint writing time via Zoom and Kiin will send out invitations for this.
We also wanted to do a seminar on applications in January where we read each others applications and give suggestions. Kiin will coordinate this and send out an invite.
Plans for next network meeting
Next network meeting will be at Tampere University, Finland! Joa Hiitola will be the local contact person for this, and arrange it together with the coordination group. If you want to participate in the coordination group (we are mostly Swedes right now and others are very welcome) you can email Kiin.
One possible theme we discussed was Public engagement, but in order to include NGOs and professionals we would need to do a bigger conference format with a public call. We will look into applying for funding and possibly doing this in 2027.
The theme for the network meeting 2026 will be very broad: Creating new spaces – for collaborations, new studies, theoretical development and public engagement, which we hope will be good basis for developing a conference for the year after.
We will include space at the network meeting to discuss disciplinary issues and institutional challenges as this was something we all struggled with.
More information on the network meeting will follow.
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Kiin Catrine Andersson
Docent i socialt arbete
Institutionen för socialt arbete, Malmö universitet
Hälsa och samhälle, 205 06 Malmö
Tfn: 040-665 85 77
