Everyone who works in Higher Education needs to understand the Phoenix judgement. The employment tribunal has found that Professor Phoenix was discriminated against, harassed, and wrongfully constructively dismissed by the Open University because of her gender-critical beliefs. Phoenix believes that sex is a meaningful human category, and that sex matters. As a criminologist, she has discussed the importance of sex for crime and prisons policy. She set up the Open University Gender Critical Research Network to provide a forum for academic discussion and research on issues of sex and gender.

In conversation with Sonia Sodha, Professor Phoenix will discuss her experiences, and how we can learn from her case and the verdict.

There will be an opportunity for audience Q&A.

The event will run from 5.55pm to 6.50pm, followed by refreshments from 6.50pm until 8pm.

Doors will open at 5pm, and we ask attendees to arrive by 5.50pm to enable a 5.55pm start.

Professor Jo Phoenix (University of Reading) researches sex, gender, sexualities and justice, youth justice and punishment, the production of criminological knowledge and research ethics. She has studied and written about a wide variety of subjects including managerialism and ethics in the production of criminological knowledge, prostitution, prostitution policy reform, child sexual exploitation, youth penalty and youth justice practice and policy. Her most recent research concerns academic freedom, politics ethics and research and sex, gender, gender identity and criminal justice policy.

Sonia Sodha is chief leader writer and a columnist at the Observer. She makes documentaries for Radio 4 on political and social issues and appears regularly as a political commentator on ITV's This Morning, Sky News and the BBC. She was highly commended in the Society of Editors' Commentator of the Year category in 2023.

The event is hosted by UCL Women's Liberation and the UCL Department of Education Practice and Society.

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