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Nordic Network for LGBTQ+ Research on Health and Living Conditions Conference at the Tampere University 8–9 October 2026.

We are happy to invite you to our network’s conference to be held at the Tampere University, Finland, on 8–9 October 2026.

Info: You can find the preliminary program and abstract submission here at the conference website. Please submit your abstract (max 250 words) by 31 May 2026 by using the submission form. You will be notified of acceptance by 15 June 2026.

The theme of the conference is Creating New Spaces – for collaboration, research, and public engagement.

The conference invites us to think together about how we can create and sustain new spaces for collaboration, research ideas, theoretical development and public engagement. These spaces are grounded in the everyday lives, needs, and knowledge of LGBTQI+ people themselves.

This conference is an opportunity for both established and early-career researchers to share ideas, present their work, forge new partnerships, and collectively reflect on Nordic LGBTQI+ health and welfare research. We particularly welcome contributions that push beyond deficit frameworks toward research that takes seriously what thriving, care, and hope look like for gender and sexual minorities. See our confirmed keynote speakers here.

The conference is free for all participants (dinner at the participants’ own expense). 

The speakers at the conference include:
Professor Annie Pullen Sansfaçon
Dr. Michael Barron

We look forward to meeting you in Tampere!

Warm regards,
The Organizing Group and The Nordic Network for LGBTQ+ research on Health and Living Conditions 

The event is organized in collaboration with the Nordic Network for Trans Studies.

Conference presentations

Valtteri Vähä-Savo & Samuel Salovaara: Sateenkaaren samalla puolen: Kohti toiveikkuutta tukevia käytäntöjä sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon palvelukohtaamisissa. Sosiologipäivät, 8.5.2026 Rovaniemi, Finland.

Joa Hiitola & Valtteri Vähä-Savo: Invisible Urgency: Trans Youth, Diagnostic Gatekeeping, and the Temporal Politics of Puberty. Sukupuolentutkimuksen päivät – Sitkeys, 7.11.2025, Turku, Finland.

Valtteri Vähä-Savo: Navigating Multidirectional Trust Relations in Asylum Interviews. European Sociological Association Research Network 15 Midterm Meeting 2025: Fragmented Societies & Fragmented Science, 18-19.9.2025. Split, Croatia.

Valtteri Vähä-Savo: Isomorphic positionalities through epistemic practices: how power and evaluative practices create temporarily shared subjectivities for marginal groups. Sosiologipäivät, 20-21.3.2025, Turku, Finland.

Valtteri Vähä-Savo & Venla Koivuluhta: Disentangling dimensions of trust in the context of converted asylum seekers. Mobile Futures Conference: Re-imagining integration in a just society, 16-17.5.2024, Turku, Finland.

Iida Kauhanen, Joa Hiitola & Valtteri Vähä-Savo: Traversing Racialized Terrains of Trust. Mobile Futures Conference: Re-imagining integration in a just society, 16-17.5.2024, Turku, Finland.

Valtteri Vähä-Savo & Aira Huttunen: Elämäntarinoita, lomakkeita ja temppuradoilla taktikointia: Kunnollisuuden tekemisen taktiikat trans-poliklinikoiden diagnoosiprosessissa. Paluu juurille 2024 – Sukupuolentutkimuspäivät, 2-3.5.2024, Tampere, Finland.

Valtteri Vähä-Savo & Aira Huttunen: Kuinka kärsiä oikein: Kunnollisuuden tekemisen taktiikat trans poliklinikoiden diagnoosiprosessissa. Sosiologipäivät 2024: Rajat, erot ja kohtaamiset, 21-22.3.2024, Kuopio, Finland.

Valtteri Vähä-Savo: Modern Inquisitions: Technologies of evaluation, testimonial practices, and expert authority in assessing the “inner truth” of individuals. Irvine Comparative Sociology Workshop, University of California, Irvine, 6.3.2023.

Valtteri Vähä-Savo: The Three Chambers of “Inner Truth” Evaluation: Assessing Sexuality, Gender and Faith in Asylum Interviews. European Sociological Association Research Network 15 Midterm Meeting 2022 – Global Sociology: theory and practice in the 21st century, Paphos, Cyprus, 5-6.5.2022.

Valtteri Vähä-Savo: Modern Inquisitions: Technologies of evaluation and testimonial practices in assessing the “inner truth” of individuals. Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration (ETMU) 18th Conference: After Crisis – Diversity and Dialogue, 2-3.12.2021.

The project is searching for participants!

The project is currently looking for people to take part in our three case studies.

Article of the year award

The Association for Gender Studies in Finland gives Article of the Year award to Continuums of uncertainty: Forms of precarity and gendered violence in the lives of forced migrants [Epävarmuuden jatkumot: Prekaarisuuden muodot ja sukupuolistunut väkivalta pakkomuuttajien elämänkuluissa] by J. Hiitola, Zeinab Karimi and Valtteri Vähä-Savo.

The article was published in Sukupuolentutkimus-Genusforskning 34(3), 34-46. It focuses on gendered violence experienced by Afghan forced migrants
living in Finland. The article seeks to explain the continuation of victimization in their lives.
The data consists of 32 interviews and observations during the years 2018–2021. The
study shows that it is difficult to grasp the continuum of violence by only relying on
the frame of honour-based violence or communal violence without also considering
the forms of precarity, which predispose forced migrants to violence. Almost
all of the research participants came from extreme poverty and their families had
lived in exile for decades. The findings show that economic, legal, and administrative
precarity intensify the effects of violence and even produce violence in the lives of
forced migrants. The article offers new information about the links between gender,
forced migration, and forms of precarity.

The projects receives clearance from the Ethics Committee of the Tampere Region

The Ethics Committee of the Tampere Region has reviewed our research proposal and gave their approval for the project on 23 September 2021. Careful ethical deliberation and planning is extremely important for a project that deals with sensitive data. This is why the project members have put a lot of time and effort to make sure that all potential risks to the participants are minimized during the study. We are delighted about the Committee’s desicion and we’re excited to start gathering our data!