Cultivating Expertise, Debating and Collaborating in the EU Plasma Field
1st session of CEFRES in-house seminar
Through the presentation of works in progress, CEFRES’s Seminar aims at raising and discussing issues about methods, approaches or concepts, in a multidisciplinary spirit, allowing everyone to confront her or his own perspectives with the research presented.
Location: CEFRES Library and online (to get the link, write to cefres[@]cefres.cz)
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 4:30 pm
Language: English
Speaker: Zsófia BACSADI (CEFRES / CEU)
Discussant: Ema HŘEŠANOVÁ (Institute of Sociological Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University)
Abstract
Policymaking in the EU relies on channeling often competing sources of information and tireless knowledge production. This in turn helps building the EU as an economic, (bio)political and moral community even in terrains where it lacks mandate to directly intervene, such as health policy (Brooks 2025). Policymaking and related lobbying efforts can be understood as an agonistic, networked processes of knowledge production mobilizing diverse forms of expertise (medical, experiential, affective, ethical, technological etc.): epistemic communities are (re)created and (re)organized, new alliances emerge, while old ones get fractured (Shore and Wright 2011, Mosse 2004). This research was prompted by the EU policy revision around blood plasma collection, an increasingly important activity contributing to the manufacturing of life-saving pharmaceuticals, and fulfills critical transfusion-related and clinical needs. Seemingly, the lobbying groups trying to influence plasma-related policymaking were divided along the lines of the commercial and non-profit sector. However, upon closer inspection one could discover points of convergence and collaboration amidst the incessant debates.
These diverse groups engaged in the policymaking process included representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and the public blood sector, patient advocates and medical experts whose different ethical, disciplinary and scientific positions prompted debates, competition and friction. This Brussels-based ethnographic study reveals how a more or less unified epistemic community (Haas 1992, Cross 2013) emerged despite the historical conflicts, ethical oppositions and professional tensions – aided also by the institutional logic of the EU bodies.
Please find the complete program of 2026–2027 seminar here.