Luan Carpes Barros Cassal

In this chapter, the author analyses his past experiences as a Brazilian early-career researcher publishing on queer studies. First, he draws on publications developed as part of a knowledge exchange (KE) project called Diversidade Sexual na Escola (Sexual Diversity at School) which trained teachers on gender and sexuality. Second, he discusses publications coming from engagement with other queer and feminist activists, academics, and students in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He focuses particularly on establishing partnerships through academic projects, activism, and affects for co-authoring, networking, and publishing within the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the challenges that moving to England brought and the need to build new local support networks. He also addresses the context of queer studies in Brazil, and particularly their presence in education policies and research. Finally, he suggests reinforcing partnerships by LGBTQ+ academics to support their capacity to thrive, paying special attention to those from marginalised backgrounds.