A. Nalan Azak

Academic interests

PhD Research

When the remedy becomes a threat: AMR and the lifetimes of epidemic in Turkey

My research explores the local infrastructure and use of antibiotics in Turkey in light of the current antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem. Similar to epidemics, AMR transgresses biotechnical, political and social processes, which poses a global threat to life and medicine. To better understand the biosocial and biopolitical temporalities that are entangled in public health, I examine antibiotic use and AMR  in institutional and private spheres of health and care. My project looks at the temporalities that are at play in the implementation of biopolitical measures to tackle and control epidemic events by drawing on discourses of medical anthropology and the history of public health in Turkey.

This research is part of the interdisciplinary projects called The Lifetimes of Epidemics in Europe and the Middle East and Lifetimes: a Natural History of the Present.

Academic Background and Employment History

2019-2020 Programme Support Officer, Specialised Commissioning, National Health Service England and Improvement (NHSEI)

2018-2019 Business Support Officer, Specialised Commissioning, National Health Service England and Improvement (NHSEI)

2018 MSc Medical Anthropology, University College London

2017 BSc Anthropology, University College London

Awards

2021 Long Research Trip Grant (Faculty of Humanities, UiO)

2020 SRII Scholarship (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul)