Photo: Andy DeRoin presents at the 2019 Gender and Equity Research Symposium.

The Women’s Center and community partners will host the fifth annual Gender and Equity Research Symposium (GERS) on April 14, 2021 via Zoom. We are currently accepting applications for the symposium, which focuses on how we engage in critical theory, inquiry and practice to create and shape social justice for gender and sexual liberation. We also engage the topics of race, class, gender, sexuality, nation, ability, place, space, bodies, activism and other topics within the theme of “Becoming Change Agents in Our Theory, Inquiry and Practice.”

The Gender and Equity Research Symposium began as a way to spotlight research that promotes a justice-oriented approach to society. Over the last five years, participants from all across the university and the local community have demonstrated how they put social justice at the forefront of their interdisciplinary work. In addition to research that centers gender, equity and social justice, the symposium also offers interactive workshops, discussions and panels that highlight how to put theory into practice. We continue this rich tradition this year with support and guidance from our campus partners in the GLBT Center, the Study Abroad Office, NC State Libraries, Women’s and Gender Studies, the Women of Welch Living and Learning Village and the Department of Biological Sciences.

GERS is open to all students, staff and faculty at NC State and surrounding college and university communities as well as activist organizations. We look forward to reading proposals and abstracts that engage our three main focus areas:

• Theory — how we understand complex social issues; how we approach these issues; how we make sense of the world around us.

• Inquiry — what we discover and learn about how social problems occur; who we study and how we amplify their voices. 

• Practice — how we take what we’ve learned in research and from critical theories and use them in our classrooms, our campus and in our communities; how our practice changed over time. Practice can be understood as personal practice, our experiences as activists and the ways we resist oppression.  

To submit a proposal and learn more visit go.ncsu.edu/gers. We are accepting three main types of proposals:

• Lightning Round/Poster Presentations highlight research that focuses on equity. These presentations should include a purpose, question, literature review, research design and if applicable, data. 
• Oral Presentations offer an overview of  your research, your work or your community group/activism. 
• Round Table Presentations are open to student scholars only and can include academic papers of basic/applied research and should incorporate a review of the literature. 

Save the Date

April 14, 2021 via Zoom.

Proposal Deadlines

Oral and Lightning Round/Poster Proposals are due Feb. 15, 2021.

Presenters will be notified by March 10, 2021.

Presenters must accept or decline their invitation by March 20, 2021.

Roundtable discussion abstracts are due by April 1, 2021.

Chaniqua Simpson is a doctoral student in sociology and a graduate assistant in the Women’s Center.