The Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing (ISGMH) is the first university-wide institute in the country focused exclusively on research to improve the health of the sexual and gender minority (SGM) community. As one of the largest university-wide institutes at Northwestern, we are a leader in research that fosters understanding of the development and experiences of SGM individuals and improves the health and wellbeing of the SGM community. 

Our mission is to connect scholars from numerous disciplines with the SGM community to forge collaborations and stimulate innovative research to improve SGM health and wellbeing. We provide unique opportunities for high-level research and training for the next generation of SGM scholars while utilizing innovative modalities to disseminate knowledge widely to the SGM community, the public at large, scholars, service providers, educators, and policymakers.

Network Canvas is a grant-funded (R01DA042711) project within Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. Our project is building an open-source framework to capture complex structural data for social, behavioural and health research purposes, developed from an existing tool that enables participants to articulate a ‘personal network’ (a set of ties, or ‘alters’, along with the relationships these ties might have to one another, and any attributes these alters may have) through a series of touch-optimised interfaces in an interview setting. Over the course of the grant, we will harden and extend the existing Network Canvas software, and create a companion application that allows researchers without significant technical knowledge to design their own interviews, collect and collate data, and export it into popular network file formats.