On Monday afternoon of 17 April, Dr Po-Han Lee at the Global Health Program organized a Roundtable on Sex, Gender, Sexuality (SGS) Health Research in Taiwan and the UK. The event is part of the output of the Taiwan UK SGS Health Research Network (TUSHRN), a project co-sponsored by the NSTC (Taiwan) and ESRC (UK).

Prof Hsien-Ho Lin, the GHP Director, delivered opening remarks to welcome the
TUSHRN to visit NTU College of Public Health.

Speakers are the TUSHRN’s core members, including Prof Ford Hickson (LSHTM), Prof Nai-Ying Ko (NCKU), Dr Sally McManus (City, University of London), Prof Carol Strong (NCKU), Dr Eva Cheuk-Yin Li (Lancaster University), Dr Wen Liu (Academia Sinica), and Dr Isaac Yen-Hao Chu (LSHTM).

A robust discussion between TUSHRN members followed Prof Hickson's presentation
on his SGS health framework.

Considering that many studies have identified health inequalities in sexual and gender minority populations, almost all of them were conducted in developed countries, while in many other countries such kind of research is still impossible.In Taiwan, census and large-scale surveys have yet to collect data about people’s sexual orientation and gender identity. Although many studies now ask relevant questions in the UK, researchers have not reached a consensus on how to define and measure sexualities and gender expression in their diverse forms. The event is important in initiating the discussion and debate since such a topic is rarely mentioned at NTU College of Public Health, and when it is, studies tend to be disease-focused or informed by a deficit model, which, according to TUSHRN, is only a part of the positive and holistic approach to health.

The audience, including many of our GHP students and faculty members, was very
engaging and asked thought-provoking questions.

The discussion touched upon issues concerning the significance of comparative methodology and a transnational approach to contextualizing and understanding SGS minority health, including study design, data collection, interpretation and representation of findings and relevant health concerns. We were very pleased to have both the UK and Taiwan teams of the TUSHRN with us, who brought these important issues to the attention of global health and public health researchers at NTU.

For more information about TUSHRN, please visit: https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/tushrn