Joana Formosinho

Interdisciplinary Research Fellow in Biomedicine, Self and Society

Biography

Background

Joana is a researcher in Science and Technology Studies (STS), with a background in the biological sciences. She holds a BSc in Zoology (Queen Mary, University of London), an MSc in Holistic Science (University of Plymouth), and is finalising a PhD in STS (Centre for Medical Science and Technology Studies, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen).

Outiside academia, Joana has worked as a researcher and consultant in the NGO, educational and business sectors, mobilising scientific knowledges towards social and environmental change. She has an interest in transformative teaching and learning, and has worked as Associate Lecturer at Schumacher College in Devon. She is originally from Portugal and speaks English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Research summary

Joana’s research focuses on the opportunities that microbiomes—the microbial communities resident inside the human body—pose to critical thinking about the social.

Using qualitative STS methods and conceptual analysis, Joana researches the challenge that 21st century biologies are posing to core foundations of Euro-American thought, namely dichotomies such as body/environment, human/non-human, natural/ social.  Joana also draws on collaborative arts-based research methods to foster discussions in community spaces and museums, and is committed to inclusion of more-than-academic communities in critical discussion.

In her current work, Joana is asking how microbiome-inclusive public imaginaries of the human body might be developed; what cross-disciplinary collaborations are necessary to bring this about; and how these inter-disciplinary collaborations might inform disciplinary knowledge production. Her aim is to catalyse critical thinking at the intersection of public health, social justice and environmental sustainability. 

This article was published on