The Gender Expression Fund (GEF) was launched by Students’ Union UCL in 2022. Set up at the request of UCL’s LGBTQ+ Student Network, the GEF is part of a commitment made by UCL’s President & Provost Dr Michael Spence in February 2022 to supporting trans, non-binary, and gender nonconforming students and staff. In the 2022-2023 academic year, 84 student received funding of up to £100 via the GEF, supporting them to purchase gender expression products (or services and travel related to gender expression). Drawing on survey, focus group, and interview data, this report evaluated the recipients experience accessing and using the GEF.
This report illustrates that experiences of the GEF are highly positive and that access to the fund had a beneficial impact on the well-being and student experience of recipients. While the report demonstrates that the GEF is considered vital to trans-inclusivity at UCL, recipients stressed that UCL's work on trans-inclusivity should not be limited to this alone.
The report makes a number of recommendations including:
- The renewal of the Gender Expression Fund for three further academic years.
- Improvements to Gender Expression Fund’s accessibility such as:
- Continuing to raise the fund’s profile amongst UCL staff, allowing for more trans students to be signposted towards the fund.
- Continuing to raise the fund’s profile amongst UCL students, particularly students in positions of responsibility (e.g. course representatives or society leaders). This would allow for more trans students to be signposted towards the fund.
- Considering improvements to the psychological accessibility of the fund. To improve the ‘psychological accessibility’ of the fund, a webpage should be created highlighting the experiences of past GEF recipients in accessing and using the fund.
- Improving trans-inclusivity at UCL by:
- Considering further research into the experiences of trans students with sports at UCL.
- Introducing initiatives to empower trans students to access sports facilities more easily. For example, introduce a trans/queer night at Bloomsbury Fitness (similar to the women’s night), and create safe changing spaces for trans students wishing to use the sports facilities.
- Considering the creation of more Students’ Union UCL roles structured around supporting the trans student community.
- Considering the creation of a campus ‘hub’ for queer students to function as a common room and ad-hoc events space.
- Considering the creation of advice material for academic staff members to refer to when working with trans students.
Read the full report below:
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