Online Lecture "How should we collect data on sex and gender identity?" Thurs 12 Nov 2026

[yetanotherusernameAgain]

A "Lunch Hour Lecture" from UCL, given by Professor Alice Sullivan. 1pm Thursday 12 November 2026. Online, free, book via Eventbrite.

Lunch Hour Lecture | How should we collect data on sex and gender identity? Tickets, Thursday, November 12 • 1 PM - 2 PM GMT | Eventbrite

Overview

In this lecture, Professor Alice Sullivan will share insights on data collection on sex and gender identity.

About the lecture
Since the 2010s, many organisations have ceased collecting data on sex. Why did data collection on sex become controversial? And why does it matter?
Professor Alice Sullivan will share insights on data collection, drawing on her expertise as a social scientist and her government-commissioned Independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender.
She will explain how data producers and public bodies can move forward by collecting data on both sex and transgender identities and not muddling the two.

About the speaker
Alice Sullivan is Professor of Sociology at the UCL Social Research Institute. Her research has spanned social, educational and health inequalities in the life course. She led the ‘Sullivan Review’ of data statistics and research on sex and gender, and is the author of ‘Sex, Lies and Statistics: Why We Need Evidence-Based Policy on Sex and Gender’ which will be published in November 2026.

Excellent, thank you 🙏 Thursday afternoons aren’t quiet at my work, so I might get a half day because I’d be really interested to hear Prof Sullivan speak about this.

She is WONDERFUL! I saw her speak at an event in Swansea a few years ago and she was just so very lucid on this topic where so many people have apparently lost the ability for critical thought.

Thanks for the link. I will be putting her book in a few stockings (blue ones?) this Christmas.

Does anyone know if these online lectures are then made available to stream after the event.

I am sure it will be more than interesting, and possibly something to sent to people who are making up data collect, not because they are interested in collecting data but want to virtue signal.

IME usually they are, yes.

From the Government Statistical Service recently:

The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation team has published a new harmonised standard for collecting data on sex, along with a user needs report and a research report setting out its findings. The standard provides recommended questions for data collectors to gather information on sex. Two questions have been developed, each aligned with a distinct legal concept of sex.

In today's blog, Penny Young explains how the GSS has listened to a range of views to help producers of statistics collect data in a way that is clear for respondents, useful for analysts and comparable across organisations.
Work on a separate standard for gender identity continues, with the new standard expected to be published in Summer 2027.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

That “distinct legal concept of sex” turns out to be quite slippery. They’re working hard to maximise response rates from trans people. Sex is only to be asked about when it is relevant, fair enough. But then they only want to ask about bio sex when the Equality Act is engaged. The rest of the time it seems to be certificated sex which to them includes both a natal birth certificate OR a GRC.

They seem to have missed that point that FWS 2025 was about more than the Equality Act, it included all the other legislation rolled into it or linked, such as H&S.

Looking forward to Prof Sullivan’s talk

Note that the GSS is only talking about survey data which, by definition, is self reported and so cannot be guaranteed to be "sex".

Almost all administrative healthcare data sets (excepting those with genomic data that can provide confirmation) don't have "sex", unless a remarkably steady stream of "men" are having gynaecological disease diagnosed and treated over the last 30 years (ditto "women" having male genitalia disease diagnosed and treated). AS would know this if she ever used such data sets but she and her band of brave rebels appear woefully ignorant of them and their contents.

Gosh, why oh why did they not choose you to do this event? Instead of a woefully ignorant Professor who just researches stuff on the basis of reality? What a numpty she is.

I’ve booked onto this lecture and one at the National Archives about witch hunts. Both look great.

You are right, to a degree. A lot of data has been corrupted by the conflation of sex and gender. That makes it even more important to restore the integrity of data collection and Professor Sullivan has been a strong and important advoate for that.

I've found UCL's Lunch Hour Lectures channel on YouTube so hopefully it will be on there afterwards.

https://www.youtube.com/@UCLLHL/videos

There are some other good ones (I used to work for UCL about a decade ago)