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Ayo Wahlberg - Research project 

The global bio-economy and national identity in Asia - reproductive medicine in China

In recent years, numerous official and semi-official reports have pointed to "Asia's Rising Science and Technology Strength" (National Science Foundation 2007) or warned, for example, that "the challenge to Western pre-eminence in stem cell science from China, Singapore, and South Korea is real" (UK Department of Trade and Industry 2005). In contrast, although highlighting Europe's many strengths when it comes to biotechnology, the European Commission has nevertheless recently suggested that "Europe seems to be hesitating", and also that "the EU needs to shift up a gear if we are not to see a slowdown in the transition to the knowledge economy" (EC 2002; 2006). A global ‘bio-economy' has emerged in which nations throughout the world compete for global pre-eminence and market share in different fields - e.g. reproductive medicine, stem cell research, clinical trials research, genomic research.

In this project, I examine how new biotechnologies - specifically in the field of reproductive medicine - are being harnessed in China as matters of bio-competitiveness and bio-nationalism on the one hand, and in processes of biological citizenship and national identity formation, on the other. Through empirical studies at reproductive and genetic research laboratories, I aim to track how research in these areas taps into national aspirations to be a ‘global leader' in biotechnological research while also contributing to objectives of improving the health, quality and quality of life of the national population.

Dr. Ayo Wahlberg is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen working as part of the university's Asian Dynamics Initiative (www.asiandynamics.ku.dk). He is co-editor (with Susanne Bauer) of Contested Categories: Life Sciences in Society (Ashgate) and has published a number of journal articles on the concepts of quackery, efficacy and quality in the context of traditional herbal medicine (Vietnam and the United Kingdom) and more recently reproductive medicine (China). From 2007-2009 he was Research Fellow on the BIONET project (www.bionet-china.org), a multi-disciplinary 20-partner China-Europe collaboration on the ethical governance of biological and biomedical research, based at the BIOS Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science. Ayo holds a PhD in Sociology from LSE.