Christian Haddad
Principal Investigator
Christian Haddad is the principal investigator of ALTERBIOTIC and an Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) in the social studies of Medicine, Planetary Health and Biopolitics at the University of Vienna. Trained in social sciences with a long-standing interest in the life sciences and social theory, Haddad received his PhD from the University of Vienna in 2016 with a thesis on the scientific, economic and ethical tensions involved in the clinical development of stem cell therapies. Haddad’s current research takes antimicrobial resistance as a window to investigate shifting scientific, political and economic regimes underpinning global health, biomedical R&D and pharmaceutical innovation.
Erin L. Paterson
Researcher (Post-doctoral)
Erin Paterson is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Vienna and a member of the ALTERBIOTIC team. Erin received her PhD at Université de Strasbourg in 2025 in the field of History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. Her dissertation was entitled: A crumbling infrastructure: questioning the stability of access to antibiotics new and old. She was previously a member of the Research Council of Norway funded project Dry AP, investigating why new antibiotics are no longer being developed. As part of ALTERBIOTIC, Erin conducts research into tuberculosis and the increasing relevance of new vaccine R&D as prevention strategies.
Andreas Albiez
Researcher (Doctoral)
Andreas Albiez is a doctoral researcher at the University of Vienna and a member of the ALTERBIOTIC team. Andreas received his MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of Vienna with a thesis entitled: A window into macroeconomics: The case of Modern Monetary Theory. As part of ALTERBIOTIC, Andreas conducts research into how scientific and economic practices influence and shape each other in antibiotic innovation.
Kirsty Bentley
Research Assistant
Kirsty Bentley is a research assistant at the University of Vienna and a member of the ALTERBIOTIC team. Kirsty holds a Master’s in Chemistry from the University of St Andrews, with a Master thesis entitled: Can pulse dipolar EPR really go the distance? An investigation via simulation into the limits of pulse dipolar EPR in protein structure validation. She is now working towards an MA in Science and Technology Studies (STS) at the University of Vienna, specialising in medical STS. As part of ALTERBIOTIC, Kirsty conducts research into how chemical and social mechanisms of resistance are understood and translated into drug discovery practices.
Scientific Advisory Board
ALTERBIOTIC is supported by an international and multi-disciplinary scientific advisory board:
Kristin Asdal
Kristin ASDAL is Professor of Science & Technology Studies and Head of Department at Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her expertise includes Actor-Network-Theory, new materialist approaches to biopolitics, practice-based theories and analysis of (policy) documents, as well as STS approaches to study economies
Clare Chandler
Clare CHANDLER is Professor of Medical Anthropology and former Director of Antimicrobials in Society Centre at the University of London. Her expertise includes the social studies of AMR, antibiotic infrastructures, global health and infectious diseases control.
Ulrike Felt
Ulrike FELT is Professor of Science & Technology Studies, University of Vienna, Austria, and Principal Investigator of the ERC Advanced Grant on Innovation residues (INNORES). Her expertise includes sociotechnical imaginaries, responsible research and innovation, interpretive methodologies, and STS approaches to health, biomedicine and environmental policy
Claas Kirchhelle
Claas KIRCHHELLE is Associate Research Professor (chargé de recherche) at the Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM). His expertise includes the global governance of AMR, innovation discourses in relation to AMR, history of microbes, laboratory infrastructures, and the development, marketing, and regulation of antibiotics and vaccines.
Kaushik Sunder Rajan
Kaushik SUNDER RAJAN is Professor of Anthropology and Social Sciences, and Co-Director or at the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory, University of Chicago, Illinois. His expertise includes the global political economies of pharmaceuticals and the life sciences, multi-situated ethnography, and critical social theory
