This webinar and coffee hour is part of the Microbes and Social Equity 2026 Speaker Series.
The Nexus of Food Systems, Ecosystems and Human Health: Considering the More-Than-Humans who Co-produce Health
What if health is not produced by humans alone, but co-created with the ecosystems, organisms, and food systems we depend on?
This talk explores how microbes connect people to food systems and the ecosystems that undergird food production. Drawing on critical qualitative research conducted in food systems, Dr. Sarah Elton will make the case that the human gut microbiome should be considered as part of the food system itself—a component of what she calls the nested ecosystems of health. The talk will explore how this view of the human body challenges common understandings of human health because it sees the human as inextricable from the biosphere. The session will challenge anthropocentric models of health by considering food not only as nutrition or commodity, but as an ecological process. This framing invites reflection on responsibility, equity, and care in food systems, and on how more inclusive conceptions of health might inform policy, practice, and research. The session will also provide insight into how critical social scientists are working with natural and biomedical science in the study of microbes and microbiomes.
After the talk, we continue the conversation with an informal social hour. Join us as we chat with the speaker, MSE members, and attendees about research, teaching, our pets, and more!
Programme (Timings are EST)
11:00 Welcome and introduction - Professor Sue Ishaq, Founder and Lead, MSE
11:05 Guest speaker - Dr Sarah Elton PhD
11:45 Audience question and answer session
12:00 Informal coffee and chat
13:00 Close
