by ana.cerezuela@uab.cat | Apr 23, 2026 | Diseminación
The AFIN 2026 Seminar Series is launching to reflect on the concept of risk in sexual and reproductive health. This in-person series includes eight seminars combining presentations by national and international researchers with discussion spaces for participants. Additionally, it features three training workshops specifically designed for PhD students from the UAB Department of Anthropology.
Throughout the series, current challenges regarding the concept of risk in various areas of sexual and reproductive health will be addressed, such as pregnancy, women’s reproductive age, digital intimacies, nutrition, communication about sexuality and reproduction with children and adolescents, and the production of fetal images.
The following lectures, accreditable as training activities for the PhD program in Anthropology, will take place at the UAB Department of Anthropology:
- “Writing to publish: risks, decisions, and strategies”, by Estel Malgosa (AFIN-UdG), March 5, 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00.
- “The art of asking without risks”, by Alexandra Desy (AFIN-Roma Tre), April 16, 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00.
- “Transforming voices: audiovisual production and anthropological transfer”, by Miguel Gaggiotti (AFIN-University of Bristol), May 21, 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00.
The following sessions will also be held at the AFIN Center:
- “Risk based on the fetal image”, by Giulia Colavolpe (AFIN-UAB), March 19, 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00.
- “The chronic condition of reproductive risk”, by Ana Cerezuela (AFIN-UAB), March 26, 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00.
- “The risk of being born prematurely”, by Carolina Remorini (AFIN-UAB), April 9, 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00.
- “What do we mean by health risk?”, by Diana Marre (AFIN-UAB), April 30, 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00.
This series is supported by Project RD24/0013/0003 of the RICORS network: Spanish Research Network on Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Development Health, directed by Dr. Elisa Llurba (Hospital de Sant Pau) and coordinated at UAB by Diana Marre, as well as the PhD program in Social and Cultural Anthropology and the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts.
by ana.cerezuela@uab.cat | Apr 23, 2026 | Publications
The article “Dialogues of obstetric risk in the first trimester of pregnancy: Insights from a hospital ethnography,” by Ana Cerezuela González, Carolina Remorini, and Diana Marre, has been published in the journal Social Science and Medicine.
This work analyzes the first-trimester risk screening consultation as a complex social space where obstetric risk is not only medically calculated but also constructed and negotiated between health professionals and pregnant women.
Through a hospital ethnography, the study explores how this moment shapes decision-making in obstetrics. The research highlights the coexistence of technical risk assessment and the social and emotional meanings of the first encounter with the future baby.
This contribution is the result of projects developed at AFIN in the field of reproductive health, within the framework of the RICORS-SAMID network.
The article is available in open access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2026.118985
by ana.cerezuela@uab.cat | Nov 17, 2025 | Conferences
From September 16 to 19, 2025, the international Medical Anthropology Europe Conference took place at the University of Vienna, bringing together researchers from around the world. Over four days, the event provided spaces for debate and collective reflection on the contemporary redefinitions of health and well-being, with the aim of critically considering the possibilities and impossibilities of health today, as well as the role of medical anthropology in a global context. Research from the AFIN group was present in several panels, with contributions addressing issues related to reproductive health, the temporalities of motherhood, and the impact of new technologies in clinical settings.
In the panel “Intersecting frontiers: towards understanding intersections among climate change, culture, gender, and health in the Anthropocene”, organized by Sadiq Bhanbhro and Inayat Ali, Ana Cerezuela, PhD candidate in Social Anthropology with the AFIN group, presented, in co-authorship with Anna Molas and Helena Montasell, the paper “Making future in a changing climate: Maternal experiences of environmental risk and strategies for sustaining life in Barcelona”. This presentation shared results from the project Viure l’embaràs a Barcelona: dones i persones gestants davant l’emergència climàtica, exploring the perceptions and strategies of 35 pregnant or breastfeeding women in Barcelona regarding environmental risks linked to climate change and pollution and their impact on reproductive health in urban contexts.
The panel “Redefining Reproductive Temporalities: Bodies, Gender, Care, and Contestations in Health and Well-Being”, coordinated by Falia Varelaki, Alessandra Brigo, and Manon M. S. Vialle, brought together research on the temporalities of reproductive life. In this context, Diana Marre, Professor and PhD in Social Anthropology and director of the AFIN group, presented, together with Hugo Gaggiotti, the paper “Advanced Maternal Age: Reproductive Temporalities in Spain and UK”. Their presentation explored the tensions faced by women who postpone motherhood in Spain and the United Kingdom, analyzing the intersection between career trajectories, neoliberal welfare regimes, and biomedical norms that define advanced maternal age as a risk factor.
Finally, in the panel “The uterus: knowledges, practices, imaginaries”, organized by Leah Eades and Marie de Lutz, Paula Martone, PhD candidate in Social Anthropology with the AFIN research group, presented, in co-authorship with Anna Molas, the paper “Just like a real uterus? Insights from health professionals and parents on the promises of the Artificial Placenta”. Their presentation explored the perceptions of health professionals, parents, and project promoters regarding the artificial placenta, highlighting tensions between technological innovation and concerns about emotional bonding, reproductive autonomy, and equitable access.
by ana.cerezuela@uab.cat | Jun 10, 2025 | Research
On May 22, World Preeclampsia Day was commemorated to raise awareness about this serious pregnancy complication, affecting between 5% and 8% of pregnancies globally. The AFIN Research Group, as part of the RICORS-SAMID network of maternal and child health research centers in Spain, joined the events under the project Primary care interventions to prevent maternal and child chronic diseases of perinatal and developmental origin (RD21/0012/0018, Ministry of Science and Innovation).
Within WP12, led by Prof. Diana Marre (Promoting a personalised and family-centred maternal and infant primary healthcare: improving shared decision-making, gender and ethnic-sensitive approaches and digital tools), AFIN Barcelona (UAB) provides a sociocultural perspective on pregnancy and childbirth, with a focus on risk situations such as preeclampsia and related cardiovascular conditions.
Through ethnographic fieldwork—interviews and participant observation—a team of anthropologists studied the experiences of patients with preeclampsia and the professionals who accompany them (2022–2023, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona; 2023, HCU Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia). This approach generates knowledge applicable to improving care and designing tools sensitive to the patients’ sociocultural contexts.
Some of the resulting outputs and presentations can be found in this downloadable infographic:
by ana.cerezuela@uab.cat | Mar 20, 2025 | Research
As part of a network funded for three years starting in January 2025 by the Carlos III Health Institute, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades of Spain, led by Dr. Elisa Llurba from the Research Institute of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and comprising Health Research Institutes from tertiary hospitals in Bizkaia, Catalunya (Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Sant Joan de Déu, Clínic), Murcia, Madrid (12 de Octubre, Gregorio Marañón, La Paz, Torrejón, San Carlos), Andalucia (Granada, Cádiz), Asturias, Galicia (Santiago de Compostela), Valencia (La Fe), the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Health Research Institute of Hospital La Fe (Valencia), Cantabria (Marqués de Valdecilla), and Aragón, the AFIN research group will develop the project Towards Personalised Maternal and Infant Health Care through Accessible, Sociocultural, and Gender-Sensitive Information, Practices, and Training, Together with Data-Driven and Generative AI Technologies, subproject RD24/0013/0003 of the Spanish Network in Maternal, Neonatal, Child, and Developmental Health Research (RICORS-SAMID). This project focuses on personalised maternal and infant health care through accessible information, practices, and training sensitive to sociocultural and gender diversity, in combination with generative and data-driven AI technologies.
