Date published:
Audience:
General public
The joint Statement on Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation in Health and Medical Research reflects our commitment to:
- health equity
- acknowledging that every person in Australia has the right to be included in safe, high-quality research that informs our health care.
The statement encourages and guides researchers funded by the NHMRC and Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to consider sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and sexual orientation in health and medical research.
It aims to improve health outcomes by:
- improving knowledge of research gaps related to historical underrepresentation of sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and sexual orientation in various research fields and topics
- improving consideration of, and accurate data collection about, sex, gender, variations of sex characteristics and sexual orientation throughout the design, conduct, analysis, reporting, translation and implementation of all research
- promoting increased inclusion of women and men, both cisgender and trans, non-binary people, people with innate variations of sex characteristics and people with diverse sexual orientations in research, particularly where they have been historically underrepresented or excluded
- promoting effective, sensitive and safe involvement of people with lived experience in all stages of research projects
- encouraging more effective partnerships between consumers, researchers, clinicians, and other research stakeholders.
We encourage researchers and their supporting stakeholders to read the statement and do what they can now, to make their research more inclusive.
Find out more about the statement from the NHMRC.
Learn more about the MRFF.