vital mobilities
University of Edinburgh / ​Lancaster University 

In my postdoctoral research, I trace the mobilities of vital mobilities required during crises. How do we, and how can we in future, get blood to people in need?                      In collaboration with organizations working in the field, I examine how vital mobilities are achieved in the context of infrastructure disruption, such as flooding exacerbated by climate change. Through case studies that trace blood supply chains, I aim to describe areas of resilience and vulnerability. By juxtaposing diverse and far-reaching cases – transporting blood by drone in Rwanda and by motorcycle in the UK – I forward metaphors of fluidity (sanguinity) and friction (coagulation) apt for the study of mobile society in a post-normal climate. 
blog posts
syrian (im)mobilities:
thinking through mobile population health

​Syrians are scattered around the world. The United Nations estimates that 13.5 million people – more than half of Syria’s population – fled the civil war. Nine years later, the conflict is ongoing and President Bashar al-Assad is still in power. The Alwaleed Centre for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World at the University of Edinburgh held a workshop on ‘Syrian (im)mobilities’ to reflect on questions of movement, settlement and return. Read more.
Picture
Image: EvidenceAid
​beyond 'do no harm':
ethical research practice with migrants 
 
​What do ethical research practices with displaced people entail? This question was the focus of Beyond 'Do No Harm,' a workshop held at the University of Edinburgh. Here I highlight five takeaways that may be of use to the Doctors within Borders network and others working with vulnerable populations. Read more...
​bloodscape: an adventure ​
guest blog by frances ryan

I took part in a fun, blood-themed scavenger hunt yesterday. The event, Bloodscape, was designed to explore changing blood trends as part of the 2018 Being Human Festival. As someone who has a rare blood disease, and who loves geeky learning adventures, I was thrilled to be able to participate! Read more...
Picture
Blogger: Frances Ryan
mobile medical futures 
​
How do we move vital goods in times of crisis? How do medical and rescue organizations move blood when and where needed? For three days this summer design students and staff from Aalborg University and Lancaster-based community partners – NHS Blood and Transplant, Northwest Blood Bikes and Langdale Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team  – converged to consider Mobile Futures. Read more...
Picture
Image: NW Blood Bikes
taking out the trash
​
​Picking Up is about the seemingly mundane and certainly smelly world of garbage collection in New York City. Author Robin Nagle is motivated by the question, “Who cleans up after us?” She works as an anthropologist-in-residence at the New York Department of Sanitation (DSNY) where she drives trucks, collects waste and clears snow. Nagle offers the reader an insider’s perspective on the four seasons of a sanitation worker: spring, maggots, leaves and night plow. Read more...
Picture
Image: Robin Nagle
5 anatomy lessons
​​
​Anatomy of a Soldier tells the story of a British captain injured in Afghanistan. From this compelling starting point, author Harry Parker adds a twist: forty-five objects narrate the story. Though a bestseller this book wasn’t on my radar until Ole B. Jensen, when speaking at Lancaster University’s Centre for Mobilities Research, made an off-hand but enthusiastic reference to it as an example of materiality. ​Read more...
Picture
Image: The Telegraph