Protecting LGBTQ+ Human Rights: Developing an International Student Training Network (ISTN) of Emerging Scholars

Overview: A two-year extracurricular International Student Training Network (ISTN) has been launched for graduate social work students who identify as and conduct research with sexual and gender minority youth. Through multi-method blended learning and engaging curricula, the inaugural ISTN cohort has received specialized research training and demonstrated increased skills and competence.Proposal text:

Background: Specialized research training in a substantive area of focus is a key component of graduate – primarily doctoral – social work education. However, students may study at institutions where training and mentoring in their substantive area is not available or may be isolated without a community of scholarship. Students from non-dominant groups, such as ethnic, gender, and sexual minorities may face additional institutional barriers to doctoral social work education that an extracurricular training program could help mitigate (Weng & Gray, 2017). Further, fostering interaction with established scholars across boundaries may facilitate dissertation completion (Liechty et al., 2009) and research productivity (Cunningham-Williams et al., 2018) among Ph.D. students in social work. Despite these possibilities, no international training programs designed to mentor and train sexual and gender minority (SGM) graduate students exists. Through the social work-led International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience (INQYR), a virtual extracurricular program, the International Student Training Network (ISTN) – has been designed and launched with a focus on SGM scholarship to support global human rights.

Methods: The ISTN is a two-year cohort of international graduate social work and psychology students who receive bilingual blended learning training through: a) online webinars with live translation; b) in-person symposia; c) student grant competition; and d) research assistantships. Blended learning combines in-person and online engagement through a variety of methods to improve problem-solving processes of action and reflection while enhancing competence (Eaton et al., 2018; Singh, 2003). Based on the established competency framework, students participated in ten trainings over the two-year period which included community-based research, human rights, cross-cultural and political considerations. Students completed mixed-method evaluation surveys following each training as well as the ISTN Student Competence Self-Assessment of their knowledge and skill development at cohort enrolment, midpoint, and endpoint.

Results: Students (n=15) in the inaugural ISTN cohort identify as SGM with 53% identifying as racial and ethnic minorities. Students reported an average 50% increase in knowledge and skill from enrolment to completion while identifying the importance of the ISTN to their scholarship. Qualitative feedback on ISTN strengths was themed around community building, high-quality specialized training, diversity of instructors and students, and variation of activities. Areas for improvement included more time for engagement with instructors and increased peer mentorship.

Conclusion: This preliminary data points towards the ISTN bolstering specialized research training for emerging SGM scholars across geographical and disciplinary divides. This aligns with findings that blended learning can be as effective or a complement to traditional education (Kintu & Kagambe, 2017), and presents an extracurricular model for graduate social work education to be more inclusive of diverse doctoral students through boundary-free connection to relevant mentors (Weng & Gray, 2017). This presentation will discuss the development of the multilingual ISTN graduate student training model with a focus on the design, activities, competency framework, and mixed-method evaluation results. Considerations for faculty interested in a global human rights approach to systematically enhancing student competence in specialized research areas will be provided.