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Overview
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Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology
Fellow of the Institute for Medical Humanities
Fellow of the Institute for Medical Humanities

Biography

Dr Jana Bacevic is an interdisciplinary social and political theorist whose interests lie at the intersection between knowing about and acting in the world. Dr Bacevic's research combines philosophy, sociology and anthropology, and addresses questions of sociology of knowledge, inequality and injustice, and political economy. Their contributions have included the investigation of the science-politics nexus and the role of 'not knowing' the future in the context of global risks, including pandemics and climate change; the intersection between valuation, epistemic injustice, and the reproduction of social inequalities; and the political ontology of critique both as a genre and a form of speech-act. Dr Bacevic has contributed to public debates on these topics, and has also worked as a policy advisor to governments, international, and non-governmental organizations, especially in the fields of minority rights, social justice, and post-conflict reconciliation. 

Dr Bacevic joined Durham in 2020, having previously worked at universities of Cambridge, Aarhus, Central European University in Budapest, as well as Singidunum University and the University of Belgrade. They hold a PhD in sociology (University of Cambridge, 2019) and anthropology (University of Belgrade, 2008). Dr Bacevic has had fellowships at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and the Humanities at Bard College, Bristol University, Open Society Archives, and the University of Oxford.

Dr Bacevic is on the editorial board of The Philosopher, UK's longest-running public philosophy journal, and on the steering board of the Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society (CHESS) at Durham. They are a member of the Cambridge Social Ontology Group.

In 2025 and 2026, Dr Bacevic will be on Leverhulme Research Fellowship awarded for their project "Uncategorical imperatives: examining non-reciprocity", which engages with the question of nonreciprocity from the standpoint of non-ideal moral and political theory and its implications for in/equality, in/justice and re/distribution in the context of global violence, state repression, and climate collapse. They welcome inquiries from potential PhD students, especially those working at the intersection of social and political theory. 

Research interests

  • social theory
  • political theory
  • sociology of knowledge/social epistemology
  • philosophy of (social) science
  • political philosophy
  • moral and political sociology
  • political economy
  • inequalities and social justice
  • anthropology of Empire
  • sociology of science
  • relational sociology
  • social ontology

Esteem Indicators

  • 2025: Leverhulme Research Fellowship, 'Understanding non-reciprocity':
  • 2024: Invited lecture, Cambridge Summer School in Social Ontology, University of Cambridge:
  • 2024: Invited lecture, British Sociological Association Theory Group:
  • 2024: Keynote, Association Winslow Sante Publique:
  • 2023: Panel Member, Science Foundation Ireland:
  • 2023: Invited lecture, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and the Humanities, Bard College:
  • 2023: Fellow, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, Bard College:
  • 2022: Keynote, American Philosophical Association Political Epistemology Network Conference, Amsterdam:
  • 2022: Keynote, Praxis Symposium IV: Post-pandemic higher education, University of Gothenburg:
  • 2022: Editor, The Philosopher, UK's oldest public philosophy journal:
  • 2022: Keynote, Anthropology of the Future/Future of Anthropology, Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Viminacium:
  • 2022: Invited lecture, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds:
  • 2021: Keynote, Theory Summer School, Leibniz Center for Science and Society, Hannover:
  • 2021: Invited lecture, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge:
  • 2021: Editorial board member, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour:

Publications

Authored book

Chapter in book

Journal Article

Other (Print)

Supervision students