Research

Conceptual Perspective

Conceptually, ALTERBIOTIC integrates research perspectives from distinct fields, including critical innovation studies, science and technology studies, political economy of pharmaceuticals, and social studies of microbes. Combined, these diverse approaches provide theoretical and analytical sensibilities to guide the research process and to make sense of different aspects and dimensions of alter-biotic innovation processes.  

On this basis, the project coins and develops the concept ‘alter-biotic innovation’ to investigate the politics of antimicrobial innovation initiatives, and the kinds of social, technical and political alternatives to incumbent regimes of antibiotic development they envision and build. The ‘alter’ in alter-biotic comprises at least the following dimensions: 

• to bring into view, map and jointly conceptualize the highly diverse set of articulations, visions and practices which have in common that they, in one way or another, problematize and aim to overcome the limitations of antibiotic drug discovery, development and deployment regimes  

• to facilitate an empirical analysis of the diverse, and often contending, visions and practices that different actors pursue as alternatives to existing antibiotic regimes 

• to compare and contrast the many competing ‘alter-biotic’ approaches and to examine the key differences between them and how they diverge from incumbent/traditional antibiotic regimes 

• to theorize the deeply political dimensions of alter-biotic innovation, by investigating the technopolitical and biopolitical implications of AMR crisis and the kinds of alternative futures co-developed with alter-biotic innovation practices 

Methodology

ALTERBIOTIC is an empirically driven, qualitative social science research project that employs a comparative case study approach informed by interpretive methodologies and ethnographic sensibility. This enables the project to engage closely with actors, capture their situated experiences, and analyze the complexities of the field in which they operate, its diverse practices, as well as the tacit assumptions, values and future visions that animate it. 

ALTERBIOTIC gathers data in a fieldwork-driven research process that deploys several methods including conference and event ethnography, qualitative expert interviews and practice-based document analysis. This engagement enables a deep, comprehensive understanding of alter-biotic innovation and its main actors, (competing) objects, discourses, and institutional arrangements.  

Research Ethics

ALTERBIOTIC research is conducted in full compliance with national and European legislation, in particular the GDPR and the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity (ALLEA).  

The project engages closely with diverse actors in the antimicrobial innovation field — including scientists, industry representatives, policymakers, and NGOs. Building trustful relations with actors in the field through interaction and dialogue at various sites and occasions is essential for understanding this complex landscape and generating meaningful research outputs. ALTERBIOTIC understands ethnographic sensibility as a commitment to critically reflect the positionality of the team in the field to anticipate, evaluate and mitigate potential bias due to epistemic selectivity and power relations that may occur at various stages in the research.