GLINTS: Glasgow Lab for Intersex, Non-Binary and Trans Studies
Glasgow Lab for Intersex, Non-Binary and Trans Studies (GLINTS) provides a multi-disciplinary, cross-College space for nurturing the research of academics and research students working in trans studies, broadly conceived.
Trans studies is an established interdisciplinary field that includes (but is not limited to) enquiries into: the meaning of gender as a socially constructed, relational, and historically contingent category; the lives and experiences of people in the past and present who live in some way at odds with the gender they were assigned at birth; strategies for addressing the oppression that intersex, non-binary, and trans people have faced and continue to face; and creative practice that responds either to abstract conceptualisations of the meaning of gender or to trans lived experience.
Our current members engage with research and teaching in this field from disciplinary perspectives that include Classics, Creative Writing, Community Development, Economic and Social History, Education, Geography, History, Media and Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Planning, Insight and Analytics, Public Health, and Sociology.
We are committed to interrogating, understanding, and improving the social, political, and material conditions that shape intersex, non-binary, and trans lives, in an academic environment that respects and affirms intersex, non-binary, and trans people.
Co-directors
Sasha de Buyl (School of Critical Studies — Creative Writing)
Kirstie Ken English (School of Social & Political Sciences — Sociology)
Adnan Hossain (School of Social & Political Sciences — Sociology)
Harvey Humphrey (School of Social & Political Sciences — Media and Cultural Studies)
Katharine Jenkins (School of Humanities — Philosophy)
Ruth Pearce (School of Education — Community Development)
Isabel Ruffell (School of Humanities — Classics)
Sam Rutherford (School of Humanities — History)
Antonio Ivan Sánchez Hervás (School of Social & Political Sciences — Economic & Social History)
Jay Todd (School of Geographical and Earth Sciences — Geography)
Upcoming Events
SEMESTER 1, 2026
Registration required—please register here.
Registration required—full programme and details available here and here.
Past Events
Semester 2, 2026
Research Seminar:
Dr Roan Runge (Glasgow): 'Accso do mhac duit: Constructing sex in early Gaelic literature'
Thursday, 29 January, 1–2.30pm
LGBTQ+ History in the University Archives
Alex Kabaj & Robyn Stewart
Tuesday, 24 February, 1.30–3pm
Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion
Dr Kevin Guyan (Edinburgh) in conversation with Dr Kirstie Ken English (Glasgow)
Wednesday, 25 February, 10.15–11.45
Research Seminar:
Miguel Soares Silveira (University of Barcelona): 'Dissident Bodies, Insurgent Alternatives: Trans Activism and the Redemocratization of Social Life'
Thursday, 26 February, 12.30–2pm
So you want to do research with intersex, non-binary and trans people?
Are you interested in conducting research related to intersex, non-binary and trans studies and/or with intersex, non-binary and trans people? Do you have questions on how to approach this? GLINTS is here to help! In this event a panel of researchers with experience in this area will share their insights and answer questions you have. This event is primarily aimed at PGTs and PGRs but welcomes anyone looking to conduct this type of research.
Monday, 2 March, 12–2pm
Community event: Trans Archives: Digital Transgender Archive @ Small Trans Library
19 May, evening—contact GLINTS for more details.
PGT/PGR Works-in-Progress Session
GLINTS welcomes PGT/PGRs currently working on research relating to intersex, non-binary and trans people to share their progress with us. In this two-hour session participants can share their progress with a supportive group of researchers with experience in this area. The session will be a mix of 5-minute research talks and open discussion. If you would like to contribute a 5-minute work in progress talk, please contact us at: glints@glasgow.ac.uk
Tuesday, 9 June, 2–4pm
Online
Workshop: Trans studies at a crossroad: decolonisation, anti-gender politics and the future
Workshop in connection with launch of Global Report on Trans People in Politics in the Global South (Dr Adnan Hossain, Xuqing Feng, and Rhea Bose)
18 June, 9am–5pm
Registration required—register here.
Semester 1, 2025
Trans Learning Partnership:
Stronger Voices Report Launch & Applied Trans Studies: Research for Practice
31 October, 10am–4pm, ARC
GLINTS Launch Event
21 October, 4–5.30pm
Contact us
GLINTS welcomes new members who are University of Glasgow affiliates who conduct research in the field of trans studies, broadly conceived. Other researchers, students, and community members in Glasgow and beyond are welcome to attend our events and join our mailing list. For more information, please feel free to contact us by email.
Statement of Values
By joining GLINTS as a member or attending a GLINTS event, you are signalling that you agree with GLINTS’ Statement of Values. As members of GLINTS, we agree that:
- Through our research and/or teaching, we seek to advance understandings of the full diversity of intersex, non-binary, trans and gender-diverse people’s lives and/or improve their lived conditions, centring their voices and experiences, without questioning the legitimacy of their lives, rights, and gendered realities.
- We create and participate in spaces, discussions, and collaborations that are inclusive of intersex, non-binary, trans and gender-diverse people, supporting the right of individuals to define their own gender and to be respected accordingly.
- We respect the expertise of researchers active in the fields of intersex and trans studies, and our participation in GLINTS activities is premised on willingness to engage with these established fields of interdisciplinary research as they are currently practised in academic settings.
- We do not tolerate bigoted or oppressive behaviour, including but not limited to racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or ableist behaviour.
- We abide by the University of Glasgow’s Code of Professional Conduct and Equality and Diversity Policies as worded at time of writing (1 June 2026).
If the steering group find that a GLINTS member or event attendee is in violation of the Statement of Values, or is otherwise engaging in discriminatory and/or disruptive behaviour running contrary to GLINTS’s mission, they will be asked to leave GLINTS.