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Dan Artus

Dan Artus

UCL Email: dan.artus@ucl.ac.uk
Year of start: 2018
Supervisors: Hannah Knox, Aaron Parkhurst, Heidi Larson
Subject: Anthropology
Fieldsite: Republic of Ireland – Dublin & Swords

PhD Research

The Epidemiology of Truth: A Multi-Method Ethnography of Vaccination in the Republic of Ireland

The term ‘vaccine hesitancy’ reflects the complexity of attitudes regarding vaccines; although it’s common to speak of the ‘anti-vaccination movement’ as a homogeneous bloc, there are a wide scale of attitudes when considering immunisation choices. Non-vaccinating parents are not necessarily opposed to vaccines so much as belief in individual responsibility for health outcomes, desire for ‘natural’ living and a mistrust of powerful institutions (be they public or private). Combined with the general difficulty of communicating relative risk, the role digital networks in both accelerating information diffusal and community building the issue is more complex than a simple ‘informational or educational deficit’. My PhD ethnographically explores these dynamics and the associated phenomena that constitute the messiness of public health and immunisation in everyday life.

Research interests

  • Digital Anthropology
  • Social Media
  • Critical Data Theory
  • Public Health
  • Vaccine Hesitancy
  • Conspiracy Theory
  • Political Ecologies
  • Citizen Science & Participatory Research
  • Gender & Sexuality
  • Feminist Theory
  • Masculinities

Presentations & Conferences

Speaker / Panelist

  • ‘The Data Nexus’ - RAI Student Conference, Durham University 2017
  • ‘The role of universities in post-truth’ – KCS Research Group, Bristol University 2017
  • ‘Conspiracy Theory, Vaccine Hesitancy and Informational-Existential Autonomy’ – Conspiracy Theories Conference, Derby University & QUAD Arts Centre 2019
  • ‘Role of Social Media in vaccination debate about HPV’ – European Public Health Conference, Marseilles 2019

Organiser

  • Post-Patriarchal Masculinities Conference – SOAS & UCL 2019

Education History

  • Regent’s Park College, Oxford University – BA Theology, 2.1
  • University College London – MSc Digital Anthropology, Distinction

Honours, Awards & Funding

Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences Dean’s List for Digital Anthropology MSc ESRC Funding (UBEL DTP)