Sex and Gender in Health and Research summer school

Actively including the influence of sex and gender in all stages of the research process is by no means a given at this time, and yet it is relevant to all kinds of areas within health research. Consider, for example, the higher suicide rates among men compared to women, or the informal care duties that more often fall on women. Including these sex and gender differences boosts the quality of the research, and makes research results more relevant to society. This was the catalyst behind the creation of the Sex and Gender in Health and Research summer school by Erasmus MC and ZonMw six years ago. Initiators Maryam Kavousi, Carine Stroet and Jeanine Roeters van Lennep explain their motivation.

Since its inception, around 120 participants have completed the summer school. Several former participants share their experiences. Tessa Magnée and Aranka Ballering, for example, both took part in the first edition of the summer school. The summer school has taught them how to navigate the dynamic field of gender and health. 

For Emma de Brabander and Margot Morssinkhof, broadening their views was the most important experience during the summer school. They know how their research fits into the greater picture and how they can encourage others to also pay attention to sex and gender. All researchers are happy with the connections they have made during the summer school. These connections were sometimes permanent, such as in the form of the launch of NVG&G, an association for young gender researchers, and a LinkedIn community.

The summer school courses consist of two components: lectures discussing the latest knowledge on sex and gender in health and healthcare, and workshops on how to integrate sex and gender into research. During the workshops, participants are split into groups and they devise a plan to creatively share the lessons learned during the summer school with others. The groups consist of researchers from very diverse backgrounds and with a variety of experiences, from different countries, with varying forms of expertise and working in varying roles. The winner receives a cash prize in order to actually carry out the plan and inspire the research field with their tool. In 2021, this resulted in the Genderful Research World platform; offering an interactive way of finding information sources about integrating sex and gender into health research. Participants also developed the gender quest: a game intended to help participants take sex and gender into account in their own research in a playful manner.