Award Title: This is My face: Re-signifying HIV stigma through participatory visual methods
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: This ESRC fellowship will consolidate my PhD (and award-winning research outcomes) by strengthening my track record of publications, expanding on existing impact and knowledge transfer of my research and its pioneering method, and by strengthening opportunities for academic continuity.
Objectives:
1.To extend my work's reach and impact by completing a manuscript monograph (first draft) which will be pitched to publishers, academics and stakeholders, and with which I will secure a publishing contract.
2.To develop a strong record of publications by producing two journal articles.
3.To produce a multimedia and interactive website to advance my pioneering work.
4.To strengthen networks with relevant stakeholders, by holding workshops and knowledge exchange sessions with a wide range of stakeholders.
5.To lay ground for the co-development of a research grant bid with colleagues at Sussex and Goldsmiths.
Details about how these will be met is explained in relation to the outputs:
- Visual Monograph: It departs from my PhD photo-book, which contains images and texts created by people living with HIV in Chile, and which revealed the impact of HIV stigma and the centrality of narratives for sense-making. This data is part of my doctoral research and participant consent is already secured. The monograph will offer an anthropological analysis through first-person accounts, which emerged from participants who had lived with HIV for only 6 months up to those who were diagnosed more than 30 years ago. This wide range of narratives will provide opportunities to analyse continuities/discontinuities in terms of stigma, amidst the rapid change in antiretroviral therapy.
- Journal articles: I will complete two publications in order to establish my track record at world-leading journals: "The value of non-disclosure and the risk of silence: HIV as biographical disruption in a post-dictatorship context", for the Journal of Medical Humanities; and "From the Field to the Screen: Reflexive Practices and Collaborative Methods", for the Journal of Visual Anthropology.
- Workshops: I will co-design and run 2 workshops with UNAIDS Fast-Track City in the UK (Brighton), with the Association for the Wellbeing of People Living with HIV (AWPHIV) in Chile. This last workshop will take place in Santiago, where I conducted fieldwork and where an "HIV epidemiological emergency" has been declared. The events' purposes will be to disseminate findings, knowledge transfer with relevant actors in the field, and strengthening and building networks in order to promote further impact and collaborations to influence policy-making.
- Website: The website will showcase outcomes of my pioneering work with participatory visual methods to communicate these research findings in multi-media form. The website will provide space for knowledge exchange in the form of open access contributions-between academics, relevant stakeholders, and people living with HIV and their families. At the same time, it will invite others who are HIV+ to create their own photographic representations of their experiences with HIV and stigma. On this website, researchers and different organisations (University of Sussex, Pontifical Catholic University in Chile; and UNAIDS Fast Track city and AWPHIV, respectively) will strengthen collaborations between Chile and the UK. with the objective of advancing knowledge transfer of my PhD method, linking communities and academic audiences. This will be an important opportunity for knowledge transfer and the impact of my project internationally, with the contribution of UNAIDS Fast-Track City programme.
- Research grant bid: With my mentors, we will lay ground for the development of a further long-term proposal to examine the continuities/discontinuities around experiences of people living with HIV from a multi-sited perspective. This grant bid will be presented for an ESRC research grant, significantly extending my academic development.

Lay Abstract: "This is My face: Re-signifying HIV stigma through participatory visual methods" explores how people create meaning of the "biographical disruption" caused by an HIV diagnosis, within a context that limits opportunities for sense-making. When confronted with "existential uncertainty", sharing narratives with others becomes a crucial strategy to understand and create meaning. Although in the UK there is strong advocacy to end HIV stigma, in other countries like Chile, stigma is reinforced; which prevents people from sharing experiences with others.
My project explores the possibilities of pioneering visual methods as a way to facilitate the narratives of people living with HIV in contexts where their expression is limited. As part of this PDF, I will produce a series of outcomes around HIV narratives, looking at collaborating with a wide range of audiences, and consolidating my PhD work extensively.
First, I will produce a visual monograph (based on my unpublished PhD photo-book) which will weave autobiographical photos and texts created by people living with HIV in Chile as part of my PhD. This monograph will highlight the need of narratives for sense-making and expand existing knowledge on the intersections of visual and medical anthropology. There is no academic text dealing with HIV stigma in Latin America through visual participatory methods. The monograph will be pioneering in this specific field, and will target a wide audience including academics, HIV organisations, and relevant stakeholders. It will be pitched to publishers such as Routledge who can reach with and beyond academia, and later to Verso and Pittsburg.
By producing a multimedia website to disseminate research findings, I will create a platform for collaboration between people living with HIV, scholars, and relevant stakeholders. I will mobilise my existing networks to contribute to the website's visibility and content: Global Fund Partnership Forum, UNAIDS, academic research groups, HIV organisations in Chile and the UK, among others.
I will co-organise two workshops: one in Chile with Association for the Wellbeing of People Living with HIV, and one in the UK with UNAIDS Fast-Track city in Brighton. The workshops will expand public engagement and promote knowledge exchange, while strengthening local approaches to promote HIV sense-making at national and international levels. I have collaborated extensively with these organisations, and they are keen to co-design the events and welcome a wide range of stakeholders to further influence policy.
By producing two journal articles and presenting at world-leading conferences, I will disseminate findings related to my pioneering method, contributing to discussions around methodological approaches to HIV, and offering opportunities for further analysis on HIV narratives.
Through the collaboration with the UN Fast-Track City Project for HIV prevention in Brighton, I will produce an important site for knowledge transfer and impact of my work. Additionally-considering the wide work on Medical and Visual Anthropology at Sussex and Goldsmiths-we will lay ground for a multi-sited research grant bid about experiences of illness through participatory methods, bringing together researchers from the Centre for Cultures of Reproduction, Technologies and Health (CORTH), Centre for Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth (CIRCY) and the Institute for Development Studies (IDS).
This project is timely and urgent (see Case for Support), and by connecting a wide range of audiences, I will extend the impact of my public engagement work, expand on knowledge transfer, and lay ground for academic continuity and further research collaborations. Sussex will be the perfect environment to enrich these outcomes, by collaborating with Dr. Paul Boyce and Prof. Day and with other colleagues at Sussex and Goldsmiths who are producing research in the same field, and/or with similar interdisciplinary and ethical considerations.

Research Activity Codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS
Health Categories: INFECTION