Welcome home? : Finding your (queer) place in Scotland and in STEM

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Reggiani, Marco and Gagnon, Jessica; Taylor, Yvette, ed. (2026) Welcome home? : Finding your (queer) place in Scotland and in STEM. In: Queer in a Wee Place. Bloomsbury, London, pp. 291-304. ISBN 9781350513037 (https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/queer-in-a-wee-place...)

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Abstract

Both innovation in the sciences and advancements towards greater equity and inclusion, particularly in education, have underpinned Scotland’s efforts to emerge as a progressive nation and differentiate Scottish identity across borders both within and beyond the UK. This is evident in Scotland’s early instigation of the repeal of Section 28, and the ongoing commitment to develop LGBTQ-inclusive education curricula. Additionally, Scotland has been at the forefront of the current efforts to address equity, diversity, and inclusion in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Without critical approaches, this ongoing repositioning of Scotland’s universities as enlightened institutions risks erasing both the new and the enduring ways that LGBTQ+ people experience oppression in supposedly progressive places. In this chapter, we explore queer people’s experiences in STEM environments where these tensions collide, normative ideas about queerness are reproduced by professional and institutional cultures, and new possibilities are created. Based on focus groups and interviews with academics and PhD students at universities in Scotland, we take a closer look, through intersectional and queer theory lenses, at the ways STEM environments reshape queerness and the multiple, contingent ways participants negotiate systemic and interlocking oppressions and inclusion. We explore our participants' experiences of navigating their queer place and we conclude by highlighting their attempts to create what feels like home for their queer identities both in Scotland and in STEM.

ORCID iDs

Reggiani, Marco ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6158-2302 and Gagnon, Jessica; Taylor, Yvette
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)