Building bridges and breaking down silos: A framework for developing interdisciplinary, international academic-community research collaborations for the benefit of sexual and gender minority youth

ABSTRACT

Interdisciplinary collaboration fuels research innovation and funders are increasingly offering long-term grants prioritising partnerships. However, a gap remains regarding the effective development, evaluatation, and sustainment of research partnerships; particularly those supporting marginalised populations like sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY). There is a concomitant need to expand research internationally to cross-culturally conceptualise SGMY’s experiences, which information and communication technologies (ICTs) may facilitate. The International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience (INQYR) is a research consortium comprising over 40 academic and community representatives investigating and addressing issues faced by SGMY in Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), and Mexico from an interdisciplinary perspective by: (a) conducting and disseminating interventions and exploratory research on SGMY’s ICT use, and (b) training cohorts of SGMY scholars and practitioners. This article details INQYR’s rationale and formation, including its objectives and organisational framework. Facilitators and barriers are discussed through reflection on INQYR’s first operational phase from 2018–2021, considering collaboration with diverse stakeholders and settings; shared goals; language and technology barriers; personal and workload barriers; infrastructure; and power and historical tensions. Implications for other research partnerships and concrete tools such as author guidelines for large-scale research partnership formation, operation, and evaluation are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• LGBTQ+
• sexual and gender minority youth
• research collaborations
• academic-community partnerships
• international

Acknowledgments

This project is funded by Partnership and Connection Grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC #895-2018-1000 #611-2019-0024), the John R. Evans Leaders Fund of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI #37651), and an International Doctoral Cluster (IDC) Grant from the University of Toronto. Shelley L. Craig is the Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Youth. Andrew D. Eaton is an Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) Endgame Leader.

Building bridges and breaking down silos: A framework for developing interdisciplinary, international academic-community research collaborations for the benefit of sexual and gender minority youth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [#611-2019-0024,#895-2018-1000].

Notes on contributors

Shelley L. Craig

Shelley L. Craig, PhD, RSW is a Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW) at the University of Toronto and is the Canada Research Chair in Sexual and Gender Minority Youth (SGMY). She directs the International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience (INQYR). Dr. Craig’s research is supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Andrew D. Eaton

Andrew D. Eaton, PhD, MSW, RSW, is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty in Social Work at the University of Regina (Saskatoon Campus).

Ashley S. Brooks

Ashley S. Brooks, PhD, is a social psychologist and the Research Manager for INQYR at the FIFSW at the University of Toronto.

Lauren B. McInroy

Lauren B. McInroy, PhD, MSW, is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at The Ohio State University College of Social Work.

Ignacio Lozano-Verduzco

Ignacio Lozano-Verduzco, PhD, is a Full Professor of Psychology at the National Pedagogical University in Mexico City and National Researcher level 1 of the National Council of Science and Technology.

Ashley Austin

Ashley Austin, PhD, MSW is a Professor of Social Work at Barry University and Distinguished Professor for the Center for Human Rights and Social Justice.

Michael P. Dentato

Michael P. Dentato, PhD, MSW, is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago.

Juan Carlos Mendoza Pérez

Juan Carlos Mendoza Pérez, PhD, is a Professor at the Department of Public Health at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Daragh T. McDermott

Daragh T. McDermott, PhD, is Associate Dean for Psychology at the School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University.