Chloe Vaast

Supervisory team: Professor Clare Hemmings, Dr Leticia Sabsay and Dr Sharmila Parmanand.

Chloe started her PhD at LSE Department of Gender Studies in 2025. Her research explores placemaking through pop-up events, particularly those centering queer women and non-binary people. By focusing on the cultural, social and temporal dynamics of these gatherings, her project will examine how temporary events can act as community hubs that foster a sense of belonging and connection. She is especially interested in participatory and creative research methods.

Prior to joining LSE Gender, Chloe has worked over the last decade as a gender and social inclusion advisor, collaborating with charities, research institutes, and foundations to conduct research, facilitate trainings, and provide gender-based recommendations. She holds an MA in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex (2012) and a BA in Global Studies from Providence College (2010). Her broader research interests focus on the intersection of gender, sexuality, social inclusion, empowerment and community-building.

Peer-reviewed

Vaast, C. & Mills, E. (2018) Gender, Sexuality and Development: avenues for action in a post-2015 development era. In Mason, C. L. (Ed.) Routledge Handbook of Queer Development Studies. (pp 57-69). Routledge: London & New York.

Djoudi, H., Locatelli, B., Vaast, C., Asher, K., Brockhaus, M., & Sijapati, B. B. (2016). Beyond dichotomies: Gender and intersecting inequalities in climate change studies. Ambio, 45(3), 248-262.

Non peer-reviewed

Eerdewijk, v. A., Wong, F., Vaast, C., Newtown, J., Tyszler, M., & Pennington, A. (2017) White Paper: A Conceptual Model of Women and Girls’ Empowerment. Amsterdam, NL: Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).

Wong, F., Vaast, C., and Mukhopadhyay, M. (2016). Conceptualizing Professional Development of Gender Trainers: A working paper developed for UN Women Training Center and KIT. Amsterdam, NL: Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).

Vaast, C. (2016). What’s Language Got to Do with It? A Reflection. In Lalor, K., Mills, E., Sánchez García, A., & Haste, P. (Eds.), Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice: What's Law Got to Do with It? (pp 109-111). Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.

Lalor K., Haste, P. and Vaast, C. (2015) Sexuality and social justice: What’s law got to do with it? International symposium workshop report. IDS Evidence Report 145: Sexuality, Poverty Law, Institute of Development Studies.