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Faculty of Arts and Science researcher Sari van Anders has earned two honours for academic excellence.

The first is the Ellen Laan Award for Translational Sexual Science from the and the second is the Connected Minds Member Highlight Award, for EDI, from the Connected Minds program at ���˴�Ƭ.

Dr. Ellen Laan was not only a top-notch sexual scientist and compassionate and gifted therapist but also a compelling communicator of sexual science. Her life and work present an inspirational model of translational sexual science, and this annual award is intended to recognize similar efforts in communicating sexual science to lay audiences and translating scientific findings into clinical or policy interventions or educational materials.

“T��� is significant personally for two reasons,” says Dr. van Anders (Department of Psychology), Canada Research Chair in Gender/Sex and Sexual Diversity and Canada 150 Research Chair Laureate in Social Neuroendocrinology, Sexuality, and Gender/Sex. “First, because I knew Ellen and she was a leader in the field, working to increase feminist considerations in sexuality research; second, because knowledge mobilization and translation is challenging and something that is often seen as an ‘add-on’ to research rather than a part of it. This award helps to recognize the hard work, thought, and energy that goes into this important aspect of research, while memorializing a colleague's focused efforts and considerable impact.”

Connected Minds is a $318 million York University and ���˴�Ƭ partnership that is advancing ethical AI and neurotechnology, highlighting researchers and trainees who foster inclusive, interdisciplinary innovation.

Dr. van Anders was recognized for her contributions to integrating feminist and queer principles that have transformed the way behavioural neuroscience is understood, including her award-winning Sexual Configurations Theory, and her contributions to public policy with invited talks and involvements at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the Washington Post corporate offices, and testimony at the International Court of Arbitration in Sport.

“Because the program focuses on interdisciplinary research bringing neuroscience and minds together within social justice considerations, it's exciting to be recognized by it,” says Dr. van Anders. “I’ve worked hard to base my research program within social justice - articulating how we can do feminist and queer science, providing models of it, etc. - and this is also something that is often seen as secondary to ‘real science’. Receiving an award for doing socially just research helps to recognize the importance and centrality of this research as well, and it's an honour to have this work recognized.”

Dr. van Anders’ current area of research has a few lines of investigation. In one, she is exploring how social experiences tied to gender, sexuality, intimacy, and oppression impact hormones like testosterone in humans. In this way, she is interested in what is often called "the reverse relationship"; how our social context and experiences impact our bodies, rather than the more typical presumption embedded into much research on the effects of hormones on behaviour. She also explores how heteronormativity, gender norms, and cultural contexts impact and shape gender/sex and sexuality. And she uses her “sexual configurations theory” to continue work in exploring how to theorize, conceptualize, and study gender/sex and sexual diversity.  

When asked about the many awards van Anders and her lab have won, she notes “I am fortunate to have won many academic awards, and same for my lab members. Doing academic work is often quite solitary or lab-specific, so it means a lot to have our work recognized by our peers and community. We put our all into the work, developing and thinking through theory, working on empirical projects that are built with justice from the ground up, exploring how to make meaningful impact with and to communities, trying different ways of communicating what we are doing and learning, and training new generations of feminist researchers; to see this all honoured and recognized is a profound privilege and incredibly encouraging.”