ABOUT

Dr Andrea Núñez Casal

I am a sociologist of biomedicine and the body. To date, my research has focused on (1) the social and cultural aspects of human microbiome and immunology – and (2) advancing embodied interspecies approaches and methods to address and remedy health inequalities. I use a wide variety of theoretical perspectives including feminist science and technology studies (STS), sociology, and anthropology of science and critical global health and qualitative research methods including multi-sited ethnography, archival research, and content and policy analysis.

My undergraduate degree was in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 2008) and I have used this background to explore a range of empirical sites in contemporary biomedicine, including immunology, microbial ecology, and genomics in Spain, South Korea, the UK, and the US. I completed with distinction an MA in Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2011. Supported by ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, my Ph.D., The Microbiomisation of Social Categories of Difference (Goldsmiths, 2019), examines how human microbiome science reinstates an immuno-logic of inclusion and exclusion through the biologisation of social categories of difference (race, gender, and class in particular).

I have been an Associate Lecturer at the Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Department at Goldsmiths, University of London and a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies at the School of Social and Political Sciences at The University of Edinburgh. I am also part of several research networks and initiatives including Antimicrobials in Society (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK), EcoSocieties (The University of Nottingham, UK), Red esCTS (Spanish National Research Council) and Centre for Feminist Research (Goldsmiths). I am currently a Research Associate in Genetics, Law, and Society at The University of Oxford.

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