Fostering a culture of inclusive LGBTQIA+  research practice: reflections on a community of practice in higher education.

Abstract

Numerous guidelines aim to support inclusive approaches to conducting research with LGBTQIA+ people. Implementing these in practice, however, requires deliberate consideration of the situated social and cultural contexts that shape research (co-)design, participant recruitment, data collection and analysis. This commentary considers the imperative to foster a culture of inclusive research and practice with LGBTQIA+ populations through a higher education initiative to develop more equitable, transdisciplinary research: the UNSW Community of Practice for Inclusive Research with Queer and Trans people and people with Innate variations of sex characteristics, or 'CoPQTI'. This community of practice provides a robust model for creating a safe and supportive professional environment to enact high-quality, ethical, and accurate research within higher education contexts. In some international jurisdictions, anti-LGBTQIA+  policies are increasing or emerging that threaten to undermine the possibility for rigorous LGBTQIA+  research, which directly impacts the health and wellbeing of these communities and how they are discursively constructed in research practices. Proactive collaborations that seek to embed inclusivity as a normative research practice are needed more than ever.