IIS Call for Research Briefs
Social Movements and Institutional Actions: Freedom, Intersectionality and Organizing for Fundamental Rights
Submission Deadline: June 5, 2026
The Institute for Intersectionality Studies Research Brief Prize aims to foster and promote applied intersectional scholarship by University of Alberta graduate students. Each IIS Research Brief would aim to improve the wellbeing of individuals at the intersections of multiple forms of discrimination including those who experience discrimination on the basis of their gender, race, gender-nonconforming status, disability, etc. We are delighted to invite submissions to IIS’s inaugural student research brief competition. Selected students will have the opportunity to work with IIS affiliate faculty from the University of Alberta to review the briefs for distribution to key constituents and for publication on IIS’s digital scholarship site. Author(s) of the strongest Research Briefs will be awarded a $250 prize.
2025-2026 Research Brief Theme: Social Movements and Institutional Actions: Freedom, Intersectionality and Organizing for Fundamental Rights
Over the past few years and in our current moment, social movements have shed light on ways particular bodies in our society remain unfree. In response to these movements, institutions, both public and private, have responded in a variety of ways from violent retaliation to supportive actions. This issue of the IIS Research Briefs Prize asks, how can intersectional gender research deepen our understanding of current social movements, their purpose, their challenges, and ways to chart their futures? Furthermore, how can intersectionality illuminate institutional responses to organizing for fundamental rights?
In a world where the voice of the people via social movements for justice is under attack by powerful governments and corporations, scholars continue to call for intersectional gendered understandings of pressing social issues. Movements such as Land Back, #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, Free Palestine, the immigrant and migrant rights movement and the environmental movement among many others have revealed the need for an intersectional gendered perspective These movements have also begun to show what is at stake when gender-minorities and others marginalized by their sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, disability status, citizenship or other factors remain in the shadows. What would centering these voices mean for marginalized communities and the movements in general?
IIS aims to recognize gender-themed intersectional research areas that stand to benefit individual researchers, community partners, collaborative teams and the university as a whole.
We welcome research briefs that further IIS’s mandate to do the following:
- make visible existing research related to intersections of gender locally, nationally and internationally;
- support existing and build new interdisciplinary and cross-faculty research collaborations;
- grow mentorship and teaching across all status groups;
- engage communities across all sectors (nonprofit, government and corporate)
All papers will be reviewed by a committee of University of Alberta professors. Research brief papers will be evaluated for clarity, academic contribution, significance and relevance to the work of the Institute of Intersectionality Studies.
Research briefs may draw upon existing research related to gender locally, nationally, and or internationally; highlight interdisciplinary research, and engage audiences across various sectors including nonprofit, government and corporate.
Competition Details:
Award: $250 stipend
Eligibility: Graduate Students currently enrolled at University of Alberta are eligible to apply.
Submission Requirements: To apply, complete the online application form.
You will be required to submit the following:
- A fully-drafted research brief, approximately 1,100 and 1,200 words in length (excluding bibliography/sources, graphs, tables, and images) that follows the structure outlined in the IIS Research Briefs Template (Below). Submissions in English or French are welcome.
- Your current academic CV