Microbial Hauntings. Affect and Time in an Age of AMR
Janina Kehr, University of Vienna
Janina Kehr is a Professor of Medical Anthropology and Global Health at the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, where she leads the reserach group Health Matters and directs University of Vienna's research hub "Health and Society". Her research explores the temporal politics, moral economies, and environmental consequences of biomedicine and public health, with a particular focus on infectious diseases, medical devices and hospital spaces.
She is the author of Spectres de la tuberculose (PUR) and has edited several special journal issues and books covering Universal Healthcare, Health and the Environment, and Hospital Ethnography. Kehr's work has been shaped by international research experience, including positions as Lecturer in Medical Humanities at the University of Zurich (2011-2017) and as an SNSF Ambizione Research Fellow at the University of Bern (2017-2020).
Prior to joining Vienna in 2021, she completed doctoral studies at EHESS Paris and Humboldt University Berlin and trained in anthropology and political science at the University of Göttingen and the University of California Santa Cruz.
The Antibiocene - Rethinking Microbial Governance During a Time of Planetary Stress
Claas Kirchhelle, French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM)
Claas Kirchhelle is a historian of "bugs and drugs" based at the Paris CERMES3 Unit (INSERM). His research focuses on microbial environments, disease surveillance and control, and the history of pharmaceutical innovation and regulation. His work has informed national and international policy reviews on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), laboratory-based public health surveillance, and vaccine and drug safety systems.
He has contributed to major international reports on AMR and authored an expert report on UK public health systems and pandemic preparedness for the UK COVID-19 Inquiry. Kirchhelle has co-curated two award-winning exhibitions - Back from the Dead (penicillin) and Typhoidland (typhoid) - and authored four books on topics including antibiotics in food production and the history of animal welfare science and activism.
Prior to joining INSERM, Kirchhelle was a Martin Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford (2015-2019), and a Wellcome Trust University Award Lecturer at University College Dublin (2020-2024).