Launching on 1 August 2026, the Box Breakers project will help UK data professionals better understand the lives and experiences of individuals located ‘outside’ of normative categories, improve organisational practice and foster more positive interactions between LGBTQ communities and data systems, including the design of diversity monitoring forms.
The Box Breakers project is funded by ESRC Impact Accelerator Account funding and is led by Dr Kevin Guyan, Chancellor’s Fellow and Director of the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab.
UK organisations use large volumes of data on identity characteristics – including gender, sex and sexuality – to allocate resources, manage people and deliver services. Poorly designed data systems (e.g. where individuals are miscategorised or not counted) harm both individuals and organisations, yet awareness of these harms has not led to sufficient action.
Box Breakers will create and trial tools that translate research findings into formats that support data professionals to recognise and respond to the harms of exclusionary data systems. These tools include The Impossible Form – an interactive resource that resembles a typical diversity monitoring form but behaves in unexpected ways – alongside a supporting lunch-and-learn guide.