Research Group ‘Medical Anthropology and Digital Transformation’
The research group “Medical Anthropology and Digital Transformation” investigates the deployment of digital technologies to respond to growing care crises – caused by aging populations and staff shortages, the rising costs of care and inequalities in access. Through ethnographic fieldwork, researchers observe and engage with key stakeholders – tech developers, care workers, policymakers, patients, and/or elderly members of the community – to understand how new technologies such as care robots, delivery drones, AI tools, and online health platforms are imagined, tested, and integrated into everyday life, and how they are experienced by care recipients. The aim is to move from concrete observation of practical impacts to reflections on questions of how digital innovation reshapes what “good care” means, who benefits, and whose needs may be left out.
The main regional focus of the research group is the former coal-mining region (Strukturwandelregion) of Saxony-Anhalt. Based on multi-sited fieldwork in different communities and digitalization projects in this region, and drawing on comparative research of similar developments elsewhere, the project develops a deep understanding of the various needs and interests that become inscribed in, or are left out of, technology-centred imaginations of future care. While speaking to practical concerns, the research will also contribute to contemporary debates and theory-building in anthropology, sociology, and science and technology studies (STS) on themes such as digital health, health governance, and the politics of care.
A Global Care Crisis
Across the world, societies are facing deepening care challenges. In wealthier countries, an aging population meets a shrinking care workforce, while middle- and low-income regions struggle with weak infrastructure, migration-driven caregiving gaps, and persistent inequalities. The global cost of care continues to rise, placing a disproportionate burden on women, who perform most unpaid care work. In this context, digital technologies are often presented as solutions: telemedicine and remote monitoring tools help extend care to rural areas, while robotics, AI, and mobile platforms promise efficiency and accessibility. Yet, these tools also risk reinforcing exciting, and creating new, care inequalities when access to connectivity, digital skills, or funding is unevenly distributed. The group’s research critically examines these dynamics – how technological optimism meets lived realities, and how care is negotiated across social, economic, and technological boundaries.
Saxony-Anhalt as a Model Region for Digital Transformation
In Saxony-Anhalt’s Strukturwandelregion – a former coal-mining area undergoing major structural change – the care crisis is especially visible. With nearly one-third of residents over 65, the region faces a high demand for care and severe workforce shortages, particularly in rural districts. To address these challenges, the large-scale innovation project “TPG – Innovation Region for the Digital Transformation of Care and Health Services”, led by University Medicine Halle, brings together academia, industry, policymakers, and civil society to develop and test new digital care technologies.
The MADT Lab – Connecting Anthropology and Medicine
To deepen collaboration between anthropology and health sciences, researchers from the Max Planck Institute, University Medicine Halle, and the TPG project have established the Medical Anthropology and Digital Transformation Lab (MADT Lab). Led by PD Dr. Julia Vorhölter, the lab studies how digital tools reshape care practices and how networking and collaborations between care recipients, care providers and care designers can be facilitated to achieve more participatory forms of medicine and care. As a more long-term goal, the MADT Lab seeks to institutionalize critical medical anthropology perspectives in medical teaching, policy, and health innovation practices – in Saxony-Anhalt and beyond.