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Paper short abstract

This paper will reflect and share insights on a performative intervention by “Mx. Science” executed at the general assembly of a large-scale EU-funded project in early 2025, aimed at sparking reflective conversations around ethics, evaluation, and community-based inquiry.

Paper long abstract

This paper will reflect and share insights on a performative intervention by “Mx. Science” executed at the general assembly (GA) of a large-scale, international, and interdisciplinary EU-funded project in early 2025. Mx. Science is the brainchild of postdisciplinary scholar Saskia de Wildt and was invited to collaborate on an intervention at this GA by Anne S. Chahine, who focused on developing spaces of engagement, methodological frameworks, and circular evaluation processes for this specific EU-project.

“Mx. Science” integrates drag artistry into scientific research, embodying a form of in-betweenness that aims to spark reflective conversations around ethics and evaluation when it comes to (cross-cultural) community-based inquiry. By employing the aesthetics and techniques of drag, this novel approach creates joyful, sensory encounters that reveal the gaps between the theoretical promises and actual practices of transformative, cross-cultural research. The intervention invited scientists at the GA to engage and reflect on the ethical dimensions of their work through spontaneous, in-person conversations at informal moments during the event—such as coffee breaks and meals. These encounters, designed to be accessible and playful, gently guide participants toward open-ended reflection on inclusivity, diversity, and equity in research. Themes and emergent issues from the project and the GA itself informed the dialogue.

Based on this case study and experience, the authors will reflect on their attempt to rethink academic meeting spaces, as an opportunity for site-specific embodiment of relational research ethics.