ANU PhD candidates Tina Dixson and Renee Dixson have been nominated for the 2021 Impact 25 awards for their work on LGBTIQ+ forced displacement.

Tina and Renee, a couple, came to Australia in 2012 seeking asylum from persecution they've experienced as LGBTIQ+ human rights defenders. Since then, they have been working to achieve safer and more inclusive Australia for other LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced people.

Tina's PhD research is on the lived experiences of queer refugee women. Using trauma theory Tina is looking how queer women narrate their lives, who they regard as their communities and where they belong. Renee in her PhD research is building the first in the world digital archive to preserve oral histories about LGBTIQ+ forced migration.

In 2019 they organised the first ever in Australia conference solely dedicated to the issues of LGBTIQ+ forced displacement. The conference took place at ANU with the support from ANU Gender Institute and the Centre for Humanities Research. Tina and Renee were able to bring 150 people from 14 countries, four international keynotes and fully sponsor 27 LGBTIQ+ people seeking asylum and refugees to attend. Last year they founded the Forcibly Displaced People Network, the first LGBTIQ+ refugee-led organisation in Australia.

There have been 400 nominations for the Impact 25 awards, only 150 people shortlisted, with 25 to be selected as winners.

Voting is open to the public, and closed on Wednesday 10 February.

Vote now to support Tina and Renee in receiving awards for their important work!

Winning this award means not just the recognition of their work but affording the visibility to all LGBTIQ+ forcibly displaced that they/us have been denied for so long.