This webinar and coffee hour is part of the Microbes and Social Equity 2026 Speaker Series.
Microbial Worlds in Crisis Inequality and the Politics of Resistance
Antimicrobial resistance is not just biological — it is shaped by conflict, systems, and shared microbial worlds.
Dr Haraoui will explore how antimicrobial resistance and microbial communities are shaped by social, environmental, and political conditions, particularly in contexts of crisis such as conflict and disrupted health systems. Drawing on recent work spanning clinical microbiology, environmental research, and anthropology, he will examine how resistant organisms emerge through entangled processes that link infrastructure, inequality, and microbial evolution.
His research also advances the idea of networked or collective microbiomes, where microbial life extends across bodies, environments, and built systems. This perspective challenges conventional boundaries between individual and shared microbial worlds, raising important questions about responsibility, governance, and what microbiome stewardship should mean in practice.
After the talk, we continue the conversation with an informal social hour. Join us as we chat with the speaker, MSE members, and attendees about research, teaching, our pets, and more!
Programme (Timings are EST)
11:00 Welcome and introduction – Professor Sue Ishaq, Founder and Lead, MSE
11:05 Guest speaker – Louis-Patrick Haraoui, MD, PhD
11:45 Audience question and answer session
12:00 Informal coffee and chat
13:00 Close
