Events and Connections
Forthcoming
Marginalisation and the microbe ECR workshop: social science approaches to AMR and microbiopolitics, on Wednesday 13th March 2024.
We invite applications from early career researchers (PhD + 5 years) working with the humanities and social sciences (Sociology, STS, Anthropology, Politics, Gender, Area Studies) at any European University, to join us in an interactive, 1-day in-person workshop on AMR at the University of Sussex.
Your research should focus on the intersections of two or more of the following themes: * Antimicrobial resistance * Sexual and reproductive health * Social studies of the microbe * Race and ethnic inequalities in healthcare * Gendered inequalities and healthcare.
If you want to come please send a 300 word abstract to R.M.Irons@sussex.ac.uk before 15th February 2024. We will cover travel and accommodation for all selected participants travelling to Sussex from within Europe.
We also plan more Knowledge Exchange events before autumn 2024.
Autumn 2023
Dr Kashouris hosted two events for people experiencing Urinary Tract Infections, ‘A feminist research workshop for people experiencing symptoms after treatment for a urinary tract infection’ in Newcastle and London.
Summer 2023
Dr Kashouris succeeded in her viva, getting a full pass with no corrections for her thesis on ‘Inflammatory responses: UTI and AMR’. The viva team were Professor Ayo Wahlberg, Professor Karen Lowton (internal), and Professor Lizzie Seal (chair). This photograph shows her graduation, though unfortunately Dr McDonnell was absent.
Dr Will gave a paper on ‘The challenges of seeing antibiotic resistance through the eyes of a fastidious and simple organism’ on the story of Mycoplasma genitalium, at the University of Birmingham.
Dr Kashouris gave a talk at the Royal College of Physicians on the Challenge of Urinary Tract Infections, 14th June 2023. The paper was called ‘Nitrofurantoin: what is the evidence for current guidance?’
Dr Kashouris also won the Mildred Blaxter scholarship to work at Newcastle with Dr Geth Rees on the teleological aspects of diagnosis.
Dr McKnight participated in the Brighton and Sussex Medical School 5th year event on ethics. The title was ‘Using race as a marker of vulnerability to trichomonas vaginalis infection – what could possibly go wrong?’
Spring 2023
On the 17th May 2023 Professor Tom Shakespeare came to talk at the University of Sussex. Dr Will asked him a question about how he felt about the NICE Public and Patient Involvement panel, and the discussion there of wheelchairs as problematic.
On 23rd-24th May 2023 Dr Will and Dr Erickson went to the Centre for the Social Study of Microbes for an event on Living with AMR: Novel ways of co-habiting in a Resistant World. Dr Will presented a new paper on ‘The challenges of seeing antimicrobial resistance through the eyes of a fastidious and simple organism’ on the comparison between N.gonorrhoea and Mycoplasma.genitalium through a post-colonial lens.
Autumn 2022
We had an impact event on 22nd and 23rd November 2022, on the overall project, bringing together social scientists, clinicians and clinical scientists or other academics working on antimicrobial resistance under the title Marginalisation and the Microbe. A full listing of this event, and all the talk recordings are available here.
Spring 2022
Dr Ulla McKnight was an invited speaker at a symposium entitled 'PrEP use and STI prevention during Covid-19' hosted by the Edinburgh Political Union at the University of Edinburgh.
Eleanor Kashouris appointed as lay member of APRHAI (Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Prescribing, Resistance, and Healthcare Associated Infection)
Autumn 2021
Dr Ulla McKnight was an invited speaker at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School 5th Year Ethics conference, presenting on 'Motherhood, Migration and HIV’.
Dr Ulla McKnight and Dr Catherine Will wrote a paper entitled ‘Mapping infections in inner city populations: care in sexual health in England’ for the 4S 2021 Conference in (virtual) Toronto Canada on the 7th of October.
Summer 2021
Dr Ulla McKnight and Dr Catherine Will wrote a paper entitled ‘Speculative digital sexual health – how digital spaces and boundaries come to matter’ for the Datafication of Sexuality Workshop held by the Sussex Humanities Lab on July 22nd.
Dr Ulla McKnight and Dr Catherine Will wrote a paper entitled ‘Speculative sexually transmitted infections - creating portraits of alternative futures for sexual health’ for the Interrogating Speculative Futures: A workshop on the politics of imagining a future with(out) chronic illness 19 & 20 July at Goldsmiths.
Eleanor Kashouris was appointed as member of the public and patient involvement team on IMPART, a Cardiff University study in collaboration with the Primary Care and Interventions Unit within the UKSHA. The study aims to develop a decision aid tool for patients suffering from recurrent UTI. https://impart.yolasite.com/
Eleanor Kashouris’ work was featured in Grazia 4th May in an article by Anna Silverman ‘Is the end in sight for the gender health gap?’
Spring 2021
Eleanor Kashouris wrote a paper entitled ‘Seeing Microbes, Knowing UTI’ for the Remaking the Future BSA Annual Conference on the 13th- 15th of April 2021.
Dr Ulla McKnight, Dr Catherine Will and Eleanor Kashouris wrote a paper entitled ‘Obscured by shit: Negotiating orifices, persistent/resistant infections and the threat of AMR’ for the Chronic Living: Quality, Vitality and Health in the 21st century Conference at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Eleanor Kashouris submitted written evidence to women’s health strategy government consultation
Winter 2020 to 2021
Dr Ulla McKnight and Dr Catherine Will wrote a paper entitled ‘Enacting digital health care –how digital spaces and boundaries come to matter’ for the CORTH Building Therapeutic Relationships Online Workshop at the University of Sussex.
Dr Catherine Will spoke in the panel Living in the 1,5 metre society at the European University, St Petersburg in November 2020.
Summer 2020
Dr Ulla McKnight presented work from her PhD to the American Sociological Association conference 2020.
Dr Catherine Will helped organise a panel at EASST 4S in August 2020 on Situating antimicrobial resistance (AMR): locations, spaces and borders, presenting a scene from a play written with Dr Mark Erickson (Brighton) giving scenes from the many lives of Escherichia coli.
Spring 2020
Dr Catherine Will gave a talk to the group at the Wellcome working group on Antimicrobial Resistance funding and policy.
Dr Catherine Will also spent an inspiring few days in the Kilpisjärvi Biological Stationr, thanks to support from the University of Helsinki for a meeting of sociologists, anthropologists and geographers engaged with ethnographic work with microbes. The participants will contribute to an edited collection together over the next year. A wide range of chapters were discussed, ranging from the use of yeast in winemaking, and kombucha or fermentation in food, to agricultural and veterinary approaches to bacteria in animal health and clinical encounters with bacteria as well as bacterial phage that offer a promise of cure. Discussion was aided by both the short hours of sunlight, but also the wonderful opportunities to share and sense microbes in different ways through making and tasting sourdough bread and cheese, culturing skin flora with artists and sharing wine at the lakeside sauna. Catherine presented a piece of experimental writing in collaboration with Dr Mark Erickson, at the University of Brighton 'Scenes from the many lives of E.Coli'.
Autumn 2019
Dr Catherine Will also travelled to Durham to an event on the Sociology of AMR hosted by the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Durham which was organised by Dr Kim Jamie and Dr Gary Sharples. Dr Jamie spoke about her work on antibacterial clay therapy in collaboration with microbiologists.
Dr Ulla McKnight attended the inaugural meeting of the Sussex Sexual Health Research Network (SHARE) Inaugural Symposium, an initiative by colleagues at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Dr Catherine Will was invited to give a presentation to the Uppsala Antibiotic Centre and talk to microbiologists and social scientists working together there. She gave a version of her paper 'The problem and the productivity of ignorance: public health campaigns on antibiotic stewardship', published in Sociological Review. Link to paper.