MESSAGE (Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity)

The MESSAGE (Medical Science Sex and Gender Equity) project is a policy initiative bringing together the UK research sector to improve integration of sex and gender in biomedical, health and care research.

The project responds to our preliminary research which showed that in 2021, not a single UK research funder had a policy in place requiring researchers to consider the sex and/or gender of research participants, and to sex- and/or gender-disaggregate data when analysing and reporting findings. This is in contrast to the US, Canada and Europe, who have longstanding sex and gender policies for research, and has led to a dearth of evidence on critical sex and gender differences across all areas of medicine, leading to worse health outcomes and greater health inequity.

Over a series of four Policy Labs held in 2023-24, the MESSAGE project has led co-design of a sex and gender policy framework for UK research funders. Stakeholders involved in the framework’s co-design include:

• Research funders, both government (NIHR, MRC and devolved nation governments) and charitable (including the Association of Medical Research Charities, Wellcome and Cancer Research UK, among others)
• Regulators (MHRA, HRA, NICE)
• Academic journals and publishers (The Lancet, The BMJ, Elsevier, PLOS Medicine)
• Patients and people with lived experience of different sexes and gender identities
• Researchers and clinicians
• The NHS
• The Department of Health and Social Care

The policy framework sets a new gold standard for excellence and equity in UK research practice, and will be accompanied by detailed educational and training materials for researchers to adopt new best practices within their work. The policy framework, Policy Lab briefing materials and reports, and educational resources can be found on MESSAGE’s dedicated project website.

Research Group

Leads: Dr Kate Womersley, Prof Robyn Norton, Prof Helena Legido-Quigley

Project team: Alice Witt, Dr Marina Politis, Rachel Fowden-Hulme, Celestine Donovan-Bradley

Investigator group: Ana Alden, Dr Carinna Hockham, Prof Chloe Orkin, Claudia Batz, Emma Feeny, Dr Katherine Ripullone, Prof Mark Woodward

Advisory Group Members

Prof Kathryn Abel, Dr Michael Brady, Prof Kent Buse, Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan, Prof Sally Hines, Dr Lilian Hunt, Dr Katharine Jenkins, Dr Ian Kidd, Dr Catriona Manville, Prof Neena Modi, Dr Esther Mukuka, Dr Sanne Peters, Dr Ana-Catarina Pinho-Gomes, Prof Londa Schiebinger, Dr Amy Vassallo, Dr Ben Vincent