People who flee persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression (SOGIE) constitute a particularly vulnerable group of migrants in both asylum and integration processes. On October 11-12, the GEST programme launched a two-day workshop at the Nordic House in Reykjavik with the explicit goal of bringing together experts from all of the Scandinavian countries to discuss the prospects of collaborating on research related to SOGIE asylum and integration processes. Lively discussions on the mapping of existing data, analyzing relevant policies, and carrying out in-depth interviews with different stakeholder groups took place. At the end of the workshop, a range of different research collaborations across the Nordic region were established, including the official launch of The Queer Refugee Research Network, or QUEEN.

The goal of the workshop was to strengthen Nordic scholarly communities in a way that will address challenges of SOGIE asylum and integration at an intra-Nordic level. This was the first time researchers from all the Nordic countries came together to organize cross-national knowledge on this issue. The workshop was organized by the GEST Programme on behalf of the University of Iceland and the University of Oslo as members of the ReNEW Hub. The workshop was supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers and ReNEW.