Open call: artist in residence
An open call for eight artists to join research teams across eight global locations to explore plastic, healthcare and the possibilities of a more circular future.
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Rethinking Plastics in Healthcare
After the Single Use is a global research collaboration rethinking healthcare’s reliance on disposable medical technologies. Bringing together anthropologists, historians, artists, and public health researchers across eight countries, the project explores the social, environmental, and historical dimensions of single-use plastics in healthcare. Through interdisciplinary research and creative engagement, it aims to imagine and build more circular, sustainable healthcare futures.
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Plastic Amnesias at HSS 2026: forgotten histories of plastics and health
At HSS 2026, two linked Plastic Amnesias panels explored how evidence of plastic harms, reusable technologies and material alternatives has been repeatedly obscured or forgotten across medicine and global health.
Toxic Asepsis at AAHM 2026
In June 2026, Eloïse Richard and Bruno Strasser presented ‘Toxic Asepsis: Chemical Sterilization and the Rise of Disposable Medical Devices in the 20th Century’ at AAHM.
Following waste through Fann Hospital
A new article shares findings from CRCF’s ongoing ethnographic research into plastic and biomedical waste management at Fann Hospital in Dakar, Senegal.
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Research themes
Contingencies
How and why have disposable plastics been valued in global healthcare and what examples exist of alternative paths not taken?
Circulations
How are disposable medical technologies produced, transported, consumed, and discarded, and what relations and inequities are generated across their lifecycles?
Collaborations
How are researchers, policymakers, activists, engineers, and designers working together to build sustainable healthcare solutions?
Contingencies
How and why have disposable plastics been valued in global healthcare and what examples exist of alternative paths not taken?
Circulations
How are disposable medical technologies produced, transported, consumed, and discarded, and what relations and inequities are generated across their lifecycles?
Collaborations
How are researchers, policymakers, activists, engineers, and designers working together to build sustainable healthcare solutions?
