Microbes and Social Equity speaker series 2023

This series explores the way that microbes connect public policy, social disparities, and human health, as well as the ongoing research, education, policy, and innovation in this field.

I would like to thank the UMaine Institute of Medicine and the UMaine Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Committee for their support for this series, and acknowledge the work of our MSE members helping to organize this: Emily Wissel, Katherine Daiy, Kieran O’Doherty, Hannah Holland-Moritz, Mallory Choudoir, and Mustafa Saifuddin. I would also like to recognize that the University of Maine is located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation.

This presentation is “Soil health – towards a ‘microbial agriculture’?”, by Dr. Anna Krzywoszynska and Paula Palanco Lopez.

Anna is an Associate Professor in Anthropology at the University of Oulu, and a research leader in the Biodiverse Anthropocenes programme (Anna Krzywoszynska | University of Oulu). She is an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist with expertise in agricultural and environmental knowledge, more-than-human research, and public participation in science. Her current research interests include human-soil relations and knowledge systems, the co-production of soil knowledge between science and society, and the role of local food systems in achieving socio-environmental justice. Paula Palanco is a medical anthropologist with a background in Development Studies and Communication. She has completed an Advanced Masters in Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies in KULeuven (Belgium) and worked for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the University of Oxford, and Imperial College London. Paula has carried out research in different topics such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), air monitoring and cholera epidemics. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in the University of Oulu (Finland), researching the connection between the loss of soil biodiversity and AMR.