Alexander Simpson
| Biography | I am an interdisciplinary researcher and PhD student currently working at the intersection of bioinformatics, ethnobiology, and medical anthropology. My PhD project is supported by an ESRC studentship and considers geophagy – consuming soils, earths, and clays – practiced in the UK. Through "Grounded Guts: the Significance of Geophagy for its Practitioners in the UK", I aim to challenge views of the practice as a disease by asking how geophagy can be understood as a complementary and alternative medicine, looking at gut health, ecological knowledge, and soil-found microbes. Prior to my PhD at Durham, I studied Human Sciences at the University of Oxford and developed my dissertation on geophagy through an MRes in Anthropology at University College London. I have also worked as a research assistant in medical sociology for Oxford University's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. I am always happy to receive emails about potential collaborations. |
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| Research Interests | Critical Medical Anthropology Ethnobiology Science and Technology Studies Human Ecology Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Geophagy Microbiomes Soil |
| Teaching and Learning | I am a postgraduate teaching assistant (PGTA) for Durham’s first-year module on Health, Illness, and Society, and final-year Anthropology Dissertation module. |