Cynthia Kraus

Education and work experience

Trainings

Titles and Awards

2001: Doctorat ès Lettres of the University of Lausanne (UNIL, Switzerland).

Award: Prix de la Faculté des Lettres de l'Université de Lausanne for the doctoral thesis in philosophy entitled: "Towards a Drosophilosophy: Knowing Sex in the Fruit Fly, or How to Do Scientific Things with Sex".

Supervisor : Prof. Marie-Jeanne Borel, Faculty of Arts, University of Lausanne.
Jury : Prof. Judith Butler, University of California at Berkeley, U.S.A., Prof. Thomas W. Cline, UC Berkeley, Prof. Ellen Hertz, University of Neuchastel, Switzerland.

1997: Masters in Arts with highest honors (Mention "très bien") of the University of Lausanne. Disciplines: philosophy, English language and literature, political science.

Award: Prix Maurice Milliod for the academic studies and for the Masters thesis in philosophy entitled: "La bicatégorisation par «sexe»: problèmes et enjeux dans les recherches en biologie sur la détermination du sexe chez les humains" (October 1996, grade: 10/10).

Supervisor: Prof. Marie-Jeanne Borel (philosophy, Faculty of Arts, UNIL). Faculté des lettres, UNIL).
Co-supervisor and jury member : Dr. Ellen Hertz (Faculty of SSP, UNIL). External member of the jury : Prof. André Langaney (Museum of natural history, Paris & Department of genetics and evolution, Anthropology Unit, University of Geneva).

Work experience

Main positions and responsibilities at the UNIL & Visiting positions abroad
2023-2024: Visiting Scholar, Institute for the Humanities, Ewha Womans University, Seoul

2023-2024: Special Research Fellow, Institute for Gender and Affect Studies, Dong-A University, Busan

5/2023: Visiting Professor, Maison des sciences humaines, Free University of Brussels

2019-2020: Director of the STSLab, Institute of social sciences, Faculty of social and political sciences (SSP), University of Lausanne (UNIL, Switzerland)

2/2016: Visiting Professor, FRAMESPA Lab (France, Americas, Spain-Societies, powers, actors), University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès

2-7/2015: Visiting Scholar, Center for Addiction and Mental Health & University of Toronto

2-7/2015: Research Scholar, Department of Women's Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Barnard College, Columbia University

2015-2018: PI of the SNF project "Making up Heterosexuality: A History of Female Desire "Disorders" in French-speaking Switzerland from the 1960's to the Present"

1/2013: Visiting Professor, Paris Institute of Humanities, University of Paris-Diderot 7

2011-2014: PI of the SNF project "Gender as an Engine of Discovery: A History of the Making of Cerebral Adolescence from the 1950's to the Present"

2011-2012: Visiting Scientist, Center for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine & Wellcome Unit, University of Manchester

2006-2011: Director of the Swiss-French Doctoral School in Gender Studies (UNIL, UNINE, UNIGE, IHEID/Graduate Institute), and Co-applicant of the ProDoc Training Module granted by the SNSF (2008-2011)

*2006-PRESENT: TENURED SENIOR LECTURER AND RESEARCHER (MER-Type 1) IN GENDER & SCIENCE STUDIES, SSP-UNIL

2001-2006: Lecturer (Maître assistante) in gender studies and sociology of science, SSP-UNIL

1997-2000: Visiting Scholar, Rhetoric Department, UC Berkeley (for my doctoral research), funded by grants from the UNIL, SAV, SNF prospective researcher

Others activities

PhD Steering Committee and Juries, and HDR Jury

1/2022-Présent: Comité d'accompagnement, Thèse en santé publique de J. Servais "A cross-section of trans-identified youth, parents, professionals and politicians for an integrated approach to their health", ULB. Dir/Co-dir: I. Godin & B. Vanhoutte

2022: Jury, Thèse de doctorat en sciences politiques et sociales d'A. Aromatario "En patins, à moustache ou sur un tatami : conversions corporelles et trajectoires de genre dans trois pratiques militantes", ULB. Dir: D. Paternotte

2019: Jury, Thèse de doctorat en sociologie de R. Albospeyre-Thibeau : "Entre 'comment' et 'si'. Incertitudes et engagements professionnels entourant les chirurgies génitales précoces chez les clinicien.ne.s du développement sexuel atypique", EHESS, Paris. Dir: I. Löwy, INSERM

2019: Jury, Thèse de doctorat en philosophie et épistémologie, histoires des sciences et des techniques de D. Simard "La santé sexuelle, genèse et usages d'un concept. Etude d'épistémologie historique, XIXe-XXI siècles", Université Paris Est-Créteil. Dir: R. Poma

2019: Jury & rapporteure, Thèse de doctorat en sociologie de S. Barkat-Daoud " Savoirs, représentations et pratiques d'intervention sur le sexe altéré des femmes noires (France, XVIIe-XXI siècles). Le dispositif biopolitique de la chirurgie des mutilations sexuelles : Technologie de genre, race, réparation et soin", EHESS, Paris. Dir: P. Bataille.

2019: Jury & rapporteure, Thèse de doctorat en sociologie de M. Raz "La production des évidences sur l'intersexuation. Savoirs et pratiques médicales autour de l'hyperplasie congénitale des surrénales (France, 1950-2018)", EHESS, Paris. Dir: I. Löwy, INSERM

2018: Jury, Thèse de doctorat ès sciences sociales de D. Bader "Gender, Race, and Nation. Femonationalism and the Problematisation of Female Circumcision and Genital Cosmetic Surgery in the Swiss Public Sphere, 1983-2015)", UNIL. Dir: V. Mottier (UNIL) et S. Johnsdotter (Université de Malmö).

PhD Steering Committee and Juries, and HDR Jury (continued)
2016: Jury & rapporteure, Thèse de doctorat en Santé, Population et Politiques Sociales - Discipline : Santé et sciences sociales, de C. Greco : "La reconstruction du sein en cancérologie et en chirurgie esthétique : une analyse sociologique comparée", EHESS Paris. Dir: I. Löwy, INSERM-EHESS

2015: Jury & rapporteure, Thèse de doctorat et Ph.D. de Claire Grino : "Corps, genre et nouvelles technologies biomédicales; reconfigurations antinaturalistes au sein des théories féministes", Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne et Université Laval (Québec). Dir (cotutelle): C. Larrère (Paris 1) et Marie-Hélène Parizeau (Laval)

2014-2015: Jury, Thèse de doctorat ès sciences de la vie (Ph.D.) de S. Pache : « Politiser la psychologie : histoire d'une théorie féministe de la pratique psychothérapique (Etats-Unis, 1960-2015) », FBM-UNIL. Dir: V. Barras

2015: Jury & rapporteure, Habilitation à diriger les recherches (HDR) en Sciences de l'Information et de la Communication de Béatrice Damian-Gaillard, MC en Sciences de l'Information et de la Communication, Université Rennes 1 : « Volume 1. Sens et synthèse d'une trajectoire professionnelle » et « Volume 2 (mémoire d'habilitation). Enquêter sur la pornographie hétérosexuelle masculine en France : fortunes et fortunes d'une chercheure au pays du hard core », Université Rennes-1.
Garants de l'HDR : Erik Neveu (Rennes) et Jacques Walter (Université de Lorraine)

2014: Faculty opponent, Doctoral dissertation in health and society de Lisa Guntram : « Ambivalent Ambiguity ? A study of how women with 'atypical' sex development make sense of female embodiment », Linköping University, Suède. Dir: K. Zeiler (main supervisor), K. Zetterqvist Nelson (co-supervisor), Linköping University

2011-2012: Jury , Thèse de doctorat ès sciences sociales de V. Pidoux : « Cerveaux, sujets et maladies : contribution à une épistémologie historique de l'étude de l'activité cérébrale en psychiatrie », SSP-UNIL. Dir.: F. Panese

Main Editorial and Scientific Boards
Since 2022: Scientific Board of the journal Psychologies, Genre et Société

Since 2021: Reading Committee of the journal Genre Sexualité & Société

Since 2020: Advisory Board, Centre Maurice Chalumeau en sciences des sexualités - CMCSS, University of Genève

Since 2020: International Scientific Board of the GIS - Institut du Genre, France

Since 2020: Scientific Board of Arpège, interdisciplinary network for gender research, University of Toulouse

Since 2020: Member of the expert interdisciplinary Group for the SNF-SPARK project « How to measure genre ? Developing context-specific gender-index to improve health research in Switzerland », Dir: C. Clair, J. Schwartz & J. Le Boudet, Médecine et Genre, Unisanté, Lausanne.

Since 2019: Advisory Board of Baadon, 1st international web plateform on the health and sexual rights of women concerned by excision

Since 2019: Scientific Board of the journal Poli-Politique des cultural studies

Since 2015: Scientific Board of GLAD! Journal of language, gender and sexualities

Since 2015: Scientific Board of the journal Terrains/Théories.

Since 2011: Member of the founding group (Core and Board member) of the international and interdisciplinary network, NeuroGenderings

Since 2011: Scientific Board of the Institut des Humanités de Paris, Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7

Since 2010: Editorial Board of the online journal, Brain and Mind in Society.

2006-2011: Director and member of the Steering Committee of the Swiss-French Doctoral School in Gender Studies (before and during the ProDoc SNSF funding, 2008-2011)

2005-2008: Member of the STS-CH Bureau of the Swiss Association for Science, Technology and Society Studies, member association of the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (SAHS) since Sept. 2005

2001-2014: Editorial Board of the international French-speaking journal Nouvelles Questions Féministes

Reviewer - journal articles and book manuscripts
Anthropologie et santé
Archives of Sexual Behavior
Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience
Comment s’en sortir ?
EPFL Press, coll. Le Savoir suisse
Genre, sexualité & société
International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology
International Journal of Impotence
International Journal of Transgenderism
Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice
Nouvelles Questions Féministes
MIT Press (Book endorsement)
Psychology & Sexuality
Questions de communication
Routledge, New York
Sciences sociales et santé
Social Science & Medicine
Abkhazie

Competences

Interdisciplinarity: a scientific program articulating teaching, research, and interventions in civil society

Cynthia Kraus is a philosopher of science who is "specialized" in interdisciplinary collaborations and in building bridges between science and society.

She has been collaborating for more than 20 years with (neuro-)biologists, health professionals, as well as individuals, associations and political minorities concerned with issues of sex, gender and sexuality in various North-South and East/West contexts.

She taught at the Biology School (2003-2008), notably with Prof. Jacques Dubochet, 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and created in 2010 a new SHS, gender & medicine class at the Medical School of the UNIL.

She is one of the founders of the "Lausanne School", sometimes called "Swiss model" abroad, which brings together around twenty SHS and biomedical experts as members of a teaching (Medical School, UNIL) and university hospital (CHUV) team to improve standards of care for intersex people in Switzerland. For a presentation to the general public, cf. e.g. "In Switzerland, young intersex children now have a say in the choice of their own sex. A world first." (Mylène Tremblay, 2014, La Châtelaine, original article in French).

She also collaborates at the international level to change this area of ​​practices and to more broadly defend children's strictly personal right to self-determination and genital autonomy.

She helped develop intersex studies in French: Kraus et al. (2008) is the first special issue in French on the topic, that further includes intersex people as both authors and co-editors.

More recently, she participated (with Dr. med. B.J. Meyrat CHUV) in the hearing conducted by the French National Consultative Ethics Committee for the life and health sciences for Opinion No132 "Ethical issues raised by the situation of individuals with variations of sex development" (2019).

In the same vein, Cynthia Kraus also works on transness, sexology, (non-)medical bodily modifications, as well as on the brain sciences in various SNSF projects, and international partnerships and networ

Specialized translation: Gender Trouble/Trouble dans le genre

Trouble dans le genre : (Gender Trouble) : le féminisme et la subversion de l'identité (transl. from US English). Butler Judith, Kraus Cynthia (trad.), Preface E. Fassin, 2006, 2nd ed., revised transl., La Découverte/Poche.

Trouble dans le genre (Gender Trouble). Pour un féminisme de la subversion. (trad. de l'anglais E.U.) Butler Judith, Kraus Cynthia (trad.), Preface E. Fassin, 2005 (1st ed. in French), La Découverte.

Mémoires d'une jeune fille en Allemagne (transl. from US English, article on the reception of Gender Trouble in Germany). Butler J.., Kraus C. (trad.), 2011. pp. 280-291 dans Chevalier C., Fohr A. (eds.). Une anthologie de la revue Texte zur Kunst de 1990 à 1998, Les presses du réel.