Steel City Pride Lab aims to conduct a large-scale qualitative research project exploring Sheffield’s LGBTQ+ past, present and future.

The goal is to create a credible, ethical and evidence-informed public report that helps answer important questions about Sheffield’s queer ecosystem and potentially supports future solutions, ventures, spaces and community initiatives within the city.

The project will be conducted using a shared qualitative methodology with a strong focus on ethics, governance, data protection and transparency. The intention is for the work to comply with GDPR principles and ethical research standards so that findings are meaningful, trustworthy and useful to both the community and external stakeholders.

This is an ambitious project, with the aim of completing the main research and public findings process within approximately 12 months.

We are looking for people who want to contribute in different ways, including:

• Individuals willing to share their own experiences, memories and perspectives of Sheffield’s LGBTQ+ scene, past and present

• People interested in facilitating conversations, interviews and focus groups exploring appetite, connection, needs and community experiences

• Researchers and investigators who want to help identify, analyse and gather available information relating to Sheffield’s LGBTQ+ spaces, history, licensing, economics, planning, culture and community trends

• Individuals interested in building constructive relationships and dialogue with councils, licensing bodies, police, venues, organisations and governing institutions to better understand both barriers and possible solutions

• People with direct experience of running venues, nightlife spaces, community events or hospitality businesses, both past and present

• Individuals connected to Sheffield’s older LGBTQ+ scene who can help preserve lived experiences, stories, context and cultural history that may otherwise be lost

• People who already understand the realities of nightlife, venue management, licensing, safety, sustainability and business operations, and who can contribute practical insight into what helps spaces survive and thrive

• Community members, organisers, creatives and professionals who simply want to help shape the direction of the project collaboratively

Steel City Pride Lab is not intended to belong to one person or one organisation.

The project is designed as a coalition of people contributing different perspectives, skills, experiences and ideas towards a shared goal.

While the project will operate within an agreed methodology to ensure ethical, respectful and empirically grounded research, ownership of the project belongs collectively to those helping build it.

The belief behind the Lab is simple:

Meaningful and sustainable change only happens when people work together.