Personal profile
Short presentation
I am employed as researcher and curator at the The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research and at the Medical Museion. My work is split evenly between practical science communication (mainly curating exhibitions and teaching) and research. I have been employed at the Medical Museion in various positions since 2001, and acheived my Ph.D. here. My academic background is in philosophy and history.
Primary fields of research
My research revolves around materialism and materiality. I trace the complex meanings and effects of material thinking in three different contexts: post-genomic metabolism research, philosophy, and science communication. And I attempt to develop these ideas in experimental practice within the museum.
I am interested in what I call “molecular being.” This concept revolves around the idea that we, as human beings, are fundamentally a part of an expansive, material network, stretching inside and outside of our bodies. These new developments have important consequences for how we understand biological organisms, and by extension what it means to be human. I am currently particularly interested in microbiome research, which provides a key point of intervention in this relational biology. Studies of the microbiome have profound consequences on how life is understood, and ultimately how treatment and managing of the human body will take place.
I use this post-genomic, microbial and material conception of life to develop and rethink practices in science communication, museum practice and philosophy – in essence, I try to work out what it means to think materially across a range of disciplinary and practical boundaries.
Keywords
- Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
- Medical Museion
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
Digitizing the Dead: Understanding ‘Data Hauntings’ to Support Equitable Data Work with Human Remains
Borsotti, V., Bencard, A. & Ciolfi, L., 2026, CHI '26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery, 16 p. 497Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure) -
An Account of a Research Expedition to Greenland in 1908 by Marie and August Krogh—Early 20th Century Experimental Physiology in the Field
Bencard, A., 2025, In: APMIS. 133, 6, 8 p., e70032.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › Research
-
Critical metabolism: Towards a metabolic justice?
Hinchliffe, S., Grünfeld, M., Rose, A., Dolezal, L., Green, J., DeSilvey, C., Rashid, S., Matta, G., Moore, M., Lynch, R., Bencard, A., Melendez-Torres, G. J. & Pierce, R., 2025, In: Journal of Critical Public Health (JCPH). 2, 2, p. 51-58 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile23 Downloads (Pure) -
Fixing Unfixable Bodies: Expectations and Metaphors of the Body Among Patients and Surgeons in Elective Orthopaedic Surgery in Denmark
Grytter, S. & Bencard, A., 2025, In: MAT Medicine Anthropology Theory. 12, 2, 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile18 Downloads (Pure) -
Leonardo Gallery: Metabolic Arts Gathering: Curatorial Notes
Rogers, H. S. & Bencard, A., 2025, In: Leonardo. 58, 2, p. 171-173 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › Research › peer-review
-
Metabolic Arts Gathering: Curatorial Notes
Rogers, H. S. & Bencard, A., 2025, In: Leonardo. 58, 2, p. 177-179 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research
-
The allure of microbiome research: promises of holism and the potential for cruel optimism
Friis, T., Whiteley, L. & Bencard, A., 2025, In: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 12, 1, 13 p., 544.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)24 Downloads (Pure) -
Metabolism and Art
Rogers, H. S. & Bencard, A., 2024, Symbiosis. Paris: ISEA, p. 167-170 4 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review
Open Access
Activities
-
Making Metabolism Public
Grünfeld, M. (Invited speaker) & Bencard, A. (Invited speaker)
15 Jan 2024Activity: Presentations, memberships and other activity types › Lecture and oral contribution
-
Metabolic Arts Gathering
Rogers, H. S. (Editor) & Bencard, A. (Editor)
2023Activity: Presentations, memberships and other activity types › Other
-
Lancering af tidsskriftet Periskop
Hansen, M. F. (Organizer), Havsteen, S. M. (Organizer) & Bencard, A. (Organizer)
30 Nov 2021Activity: Participating in an event - types › Organisation of and participation in conference
-
Periskop (Journal)
Hansen, M. F. (Editor), Bencard, A. (Editor) & Havsteen, S. M. (Editor)
1 Sept 2020 → 30 Nov 2021Activity: Peer-review and editorial work types › Editor of Research journal › Research
-
Periskop : forum for kunsthistorisk debat (Journal)
Hansen, M. F. (Editor), Havsteen, S. M. (Editor) & Bencard, A. (Editor)
1 Jan 2020 → 30 Nov 2021Activity: Peer-review and editorial work types › Editor of Research journal › Research
Press/Media
Prizes
-
UMAC Award 2019 for the exhibition Mind the Gut
Bencard, A. (Recipient) & Whiteley, L. (Recipient), Sept 2019
Prize: Prizes, scholarships, distinctions
-
Formidlingsprisen 2023
Bencard, A. (Recipient), Lillemose, J. (Recipient), Bjerregaard, M. K. (Recipient) & Hussey, K. D. (Recipient), 2023
Prize: Prizes, scholarships, distinctions