Musa Sharples

trans studies, trans healthcare, health inequality, queer studies, marginality, co-production, lay expertise, resistant knowledge, social change

I am a Paul Cottingham Trust funded PhD student researching the use of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) as a form of harm reduction within the trans community. I am deeply interested in research that contributes to tangible change for marginalised communities. 

I hold both a BA and MPhil from the University of Cambridge. My undergraduate dissertation examined the gender-affirming capacity of piercings and tattoos as a form of alternative medicine, whilst my MPhil research focused on autism self-diagnosis as an act of epistemic resistance.

I have a co-authored chapter in a Palgrave Macmillan volume on epistemic injustice in youth mental health treatment, and have presented research posters and presentations at the Cambridge Queer Studies Conference, the School for Public Health Research's AGM, the Trans Virtual Centre of Excellence Annual Symposium, and the Feminist Gender Equality Network’s Trans Liberation NOW! conference. I am proudly a member of the Trans Virtual Centre of Excellence, a global, interdisciplinary network for trans+ scholarship.

Beyond academia, I am the co-founder of Transilience, a youth-led grassroots organisation supporting the trans community in Devon, and a trustee for Hidayah, the UK's leading queer Muslim charity.

My pronouns are he/they.