Postdoctoral Researcher

Department for Science & Technology Studies & Department of Sociology

ERC Starting Grant ALTERBIOTIC

eMail: erin.paterson@univie.ac.at

Biography

Paterson is a historian of science, technology, and medicine. She received her doctorate in June 2025 at the Université de Strasbourg and she was previously affiliated with the Research Council of Norway funded DryAP Project (FRIPRO 314490). Her research focus is on the financial, social, and cultural infrastructures that support or inhibit the development of treatments for bacterial infections.

Paterson has taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate level and is a keen supporter of encouraging the next generation of students in their academic pursuits.

Research Interests

She is particularly interested in the development of treatments for Tuberculosis and has written on the case of bedaquiline as a first-in-class antibiotic for the treatment of MDR-Tuberculosis.

Her work with ALTERBIOTIC is primarily dedicated to understanding the historical, political, and sociological factors influencing the creation of non-antibiotic therapies and treatments for bacterial infections.

Main fields of expertise:

• History of medicine
• Economic History
• Political History
• Social, economic and cultural studies of pharmaceuticals
• Science, technology and innovation policy in/for global health
• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
• Qualitative and interpretive social science research methodologies
• Tuberculosis