UP and the University of Oslo will be co-leading the Cluster of Research Excellence in Health, Gender and Sexualities, a 10-year programme of academic and research excellence and advocacy.

The Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender (CSA&G) at the University of Pretoria (UP) was recently appointed to co-lead the Cluster of Research Excellence in Health, Gender and Sexualities with the University of Oslo, Norway.

The appointment comes as African and European universities join forces to tackle major global challenges following the collaboration of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities (the Guild) and the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA). This association gave rise to the Africa-Europe Clusters of Research Excellence, a university partnership model that will pave the way for a new era of collaboration between Africa and Europe in research, innovation and higher education.

This is an extra feather in UP’s cap after the joint assembly of the Guild and ARUA recently approved a new cluster focused on sustainable food systems to be coordinated by UP in partnership with the University of Bologna, Italy.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the CSA&G, the Faculty of Humanities and indeed the entire University to support a 10-year programme of academic and research excellence, advocacy, and the development of a cadre of researchers on health, gender and sexualities,” CSA&G Acting Director Pierre Brouard said. “The cluster of Health, Gender and Sexualities will be co-led by the University of Oslo with core partners from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia; the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania; the University of Mauritius; the University of the Witwatersrand; King’s College London, England; Uppsala University, Sweden; and the Zimbabwean Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research.”

“My colleagues and I at the University of Oslo are looking forward to co-leading this cluster alongside UP and joining forces with our many partners from Africa and Europe,” Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Global Medicine Kåre Moen said. “Our collective goal is to forge a unique African-European collaboration dedicated to advancing research and researcher training in the important areas of health, gender and sexualities.”

The CSA&G will be working with the University of Oslo to secure research funding, build capacity, deliver PhDs and mentor postdoctoral fellows, among others. Together, they aim to build a significant body of research evidence that will advance scholarship in the Cluster of Research Excellence. They are already thinking about examining how queer people migrate across continents as they navigate what is often a troublesome legal landscape. 

Other possible research areas include:

• examining the influence of societal norms and cultural understandings of the experiences, health and well-being of diverse gender and sexual populations;
• investigating the ways in which socio-cultural processes and practices contribute to shaping the formation of sexuality, sexual behaviour and sexual identities;
• investigating disparities in healthcare access, and developing strategies to improve the availability and quality of inclusive care;
• exploring mental and physical health challenges faced by diverse gender and sexual minority populations, including HIV/AIDS, mental health issues and gender-based violence, and developing targeted interventions to address these disparities;
• examining the effects of climate change on access to health services as well as gender equality more broadly;
• considering the intersectionality of multiple social determinants, such as race, ethnicity, socio-economic status and disability, all of which can further exacerbate health disparities;
• examining the role of sexual health education and public awareness in shaping attitudes towards diverse gender and sexual minority populations, and identifying strategies to promote more inclusive and accurate information; and
• fostering meaningful engagement with relevant communities, ensuring their voices are central to the research process and that the research outcomes directly benefit these communities.

“We have seen some very worrying global trends over the past decades with regard to the rights of LGBTQIA+ people,” CSA&G senior research manager Dr Christi Kruger said. “Just last month, legislation was passed in Uganda to criminalise homosexuality and, in some cases, make it punishable by death. Other countries are lobbying for similar legislation, and across Europe, right-wing organisations have been vocal about their opposition to gender and sexual diversity. As a centre, our goal is to advocate for gender and social justice; this will always be the end goal of our research and programmatic work.”

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