Trans Safety Network have become aware of concerning information regarding a study of trans, nonbinary and gender diverse adolescents aged 13-17.
The study is being undertaken by Jacky Grainger at UCLan as part of her doctoral research.
Grainger is notorious in the Irish LGBTQ+ community for having co-authored an article concerning a Bill to ban conversion therapy within the Irish Times. The article downplays the present day reality of conversion therapy, and led to a boycott by the Irish Students Union.
The piece to the Irish Times was written alongside Stella O’Malley who has been caught on record advocating for conversion therapy for young trans individuals.
O'Malley is part of a network of clinical and research professionals who were recently exposed as having links to ultra-conservative religious conversion therapy activists.
We have written to UCLan asking them about their ethics approval basis and raising these publicly documented facts as potential safeguarding concerns.
Until there is clear assurance that meaningful safeguards are in place for research participants, especially given that this research involves adolescent research subjects, we would recommend young trans people and their parents avoid participation in this study.