We are happy to announce that Dr. Katja Herges, a member of our team, has been awarded with an ERA Postdoctoral Fellowship for her project “Contested Conditions in the Wake of Covid-19: Relations between Autobiography, Media, and Illness.” The ERA Fellowship is part of the prestigious Marie-Słodowska-Curie-Actions in the Horizon Europe Program.  

In the research project Katja Herges will analyze media practices and politics of two stigmatized and neglected conditions in contemporary health care and society: long or post covid, the continuous illness after an infection with COVID-19, and myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

By closely examining emerging autobiographical practices of these conditions, she aims to dissect the overlooked relations between illness/disability narratives, mediality, and politics. Combined with innovative approaches of public engagement, the project seeks to impact the cultural bias against unexplained (post-viral) illness.