2020 had gotten off to a flying start for the project, with fieldwork being undertaken with both Race Against Blood Cancer (RABC), and African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT), two of the research partners who kindly gave me access to attend their events during this project. I was also lucky enough to interview people involved with some major online stem cell registration campaigns.
Unfortunately, due to the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic, the University of Sheffield – like many universities around the world right now – has paused both teaching, and much of the research that academics are doing. Because of the nature of the research I have been undertaking, it is sensible that the project’s fieldwork is included in this pause.
I’m still hoping to be able to think and write around the project, and will soon have a paper out in Sociological Review that explores themes around health access which relate very much to Mix & Match. I’ll share this link in the next few days when the paper is online.
Soon, I hope to be able to reassess the situation for fieldwork with the research partners and my university, but this is obviously not a priority at the moment as we all look for ways to support each other. In the meanwhile, I’ve been considering what a global pandemic means for a global stem cell infrastructure. You can read about that here.
Mix and Match 