BU Research Blog

Dr Laura Favaro’s latest research project concerned the disputes around sex and gender that have escalated dramatically since the mid-2010s – often referred to as the ‘gender wars’ – with a particular focus on academia in the form of an ethnography. Data includes field notes, documents, social media content, as well as 50 semi-structured interviews and an online mixed survey, which she collected as part of a postdoctoral research fellowship at City, University of London.  

Initial outputs included a substantial report for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an article for Times Higher Education (THE) and a number of invited talks. The final stage of dissemination will primarily consist of academic writings, currently with papers for peer-reviewed journals under preparation. Discussions with publishers for her book project will soon recommence, following the recent transfer of her interview data to BU (see notice below).  

Also forthcoming is the transfer of the anonymised survey responses, which Dr Favaro collected with the support of a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant under the title “The ‘Gender Wars’ Survey: A Case Study of Working Life in Academia”.  

Building on the ‘gender wars’ project, as part of her role as Lecturer in Social Science at BU Dr Favaro has been conducting further document reviews to extend her exploration of the impact of queer theory and politics in academia. A forthcoming online essay brings together findings from both research endeavours, drawing – and expanding – on the concept of academentia, a term originally used by the late feminist professor Mary Daly. Dr Favaro’s previous applications of this term in relation to her research findings can be seen in this invited talk for Women’s Declaration International (WDI), or in her published interview with the author of the recent book Cancelled: The Left Way Back from Woke, titled Cancel culture in academia: Umut Özkırımlı in conversation with Laura Favaro. 

Notice for the participants of the ‘Gender Wars in Feminism’ interview study  

The transcripts of the interviews conducted between October 2020 and December 2021 were transferred securely from City, University of London to Bournemouth University on 6th December 2023. This means that BU now acts as an independent controller in respect of the processing of this research data, which will continue to be handled in accordance with the Participant Information Sheet and other assurances previously provided, in addition to BU’s Research Participant privacy notice.