Community of Practice on Gender Medicine and Health holds first peer-to-peer exchange
On 28 May 2026, the Community of Practice held its first online workshop with about 60 participants – NRP 83-researchers and other interested parties from the fields of research, practice, education and politics.
Attendees of the first peer-to-peer exchange of the Community of Practice (CoP) on Gender Medicine and Health discussed four questions in working groups. These questions were identified back in October 2025 when the NRP 83 research teams came together to kick off the research programme, establishing four working groups on the issues of Intersectionality, Education, Language and Inclusion.
The questions
Intersectionality working group: “How can intersectionality be systematically integrated into qualitative research designs – from recruitment through to analysis and interpretation?”
Education working group: “How can gender-sensitive content be integrated into educational frameworks for health and medicine and implemented within the federal education system?”
Language working group: “How can language- and culture-sensitive guidelines on gender and diversity be developed for multilingual Switzerland?”
Inclusion working group: “How can key stakeholders who have so far shown little awareness of gender issues in medicine and public health be reached and engaged?”
What are we talking about, what do we want and how are we working towards it?
The initial focus of the discussion in all four working groups was on the question, “What is it we are actually talking about – and how do we approach the topic?” Across two rounds of dialogue, participants swapped concepts, resources, scientific foundations and their own experiences, analysing the current situation and identifying key challenges.
Building on this, the working groups devised potential solutions for making healthcare more sex- and gender-inclusive – and outlined how they want to proceed towards that goal collectively.
A platform for direct exchange
Through the Community of Practice (CoP), we aim to create a dynamic, collaborative platform for exchange and shared learning – for our researchers and everyone committed to gender medicine and health who wishes to help shape its future development.
By bringing together perspectives from research, practice, education and policy, the CoP aims to help identify existing gaps and bridge them with new approaches and concepts.
The CoP is open in particular to researchers, healthcare professionals, representatives from educational institutions and professional associations, patients and decision-makers who are interested in the impact of sex and gender on health and wish to contribute to the development of concrete solutions.
Next Community of Practice meeting
Moving forward, the Community of Practice will hold regular workshops. The next exchange will be an in-person event, to be held in Biel on 14 September 2026 as part of the Annual Meeting.
There, the four working groups will continue working on their focus questions. More information will be provided when invites go out.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you would like to take part in a specific working group. We will be happy to consider your participation, taking into account the topic and the composition of the group. More information on the peer-to-peer exchange and how to get in touch can be found on our website.