Internationalisation Officer (North America),

Gender and Education Association Executive

Elizabethe Payne, Ph.D., is founder and director of the Queering Education Research Institute (QuERI). QuERI is dedicated to bridging gaps between research, policy, and practice in support of gender and sexual minority students in K-12 schools. Dr. Payne is a sociologist of education with research exploring LGBTQ-inclusive education policy, educator experiences working with gender and sexual minority students, and the school experiences of LGBTQ+ young people.  In 2022, funded by the Spencer Foundation, she concluded a 10-year evaluation study of the implementation of New York’s enumerated anti-bullying law. Her applied work addresses state-level sex education and HIV education policy, anti-bullying policy, policies related to teacher education, school climate, and Title IX.  She serves on the New York State Dignity for All Students Act Task Force and works with the New York State Education Department and members of the state legislature toward more effective research-based policy for LGBTQ students and families. She served on the 2020 Biden/Harris LGBTQ Public Policy Committee and she has worked with the US Department of Justice on the application of Title IX to LGBTQ student harassment cases. She is a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization working group on school bullying. She holds the 2022-2023 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Congressional Fellowship in Washington DC, part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science program bringing researchers to Capitol Hill to work in federal policy making. With co-author Melissa Smith, her forthcoming edited volume, Queer Kids, School Violence, and the Limits of “Bullying”, brings together leading international scholars to challenge the current limits of anti-bullying efforts in support of gender and sexual minority students.